Della Duck's Totally Awesome Guide to Bonding With Your Family!
by roxygoth
Summary: So, Della Duck is back home and Huey decided to give her a Diary so she can write down her thoughts and feeling about...well, everything, really. Instead she decided to write a guide. Learn how to bond with your three pre-teen boys! Discover how to build bridges with your twin, uncle, cousins and...well. Everyone really. Spoilers for - well. Everything Della related, really.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, Roxy Goth here! This idea came to me last night in a flash of inspiration and I thought 'I must remember to actually write about this instead of letting it be one of the many, many ideas that slip through my fingers' and so here we are.**

**I will admit the idea for the title DID come from the fanfiction '**_**Huey Duck's Non-Comprehensive, Ever Growing List of Reasons Why Being A Triplet Is Awesome' **_**by FanGirlAndProudOfIt – but that is all. **

**I've never written Della at all, let alone like this. I also haven't been watching Ducktales for a little while – though I have looked her up on TV tropes, so hopefully she's not to OOC.**

**I do not own Ducktales in any way shape or form. **

_14/09/2019_

_Hello and welcome to Della Duck's Totally Awesome Guide to Bonding With Your Family! My eldest son, Hubert, gave me this diary earlier on and clearly felt it needed explaining. The conversation went like this:_

_I'm in the kitchen trying to work the kettle [What? You try being stuck on the moon for ten years, oh wait, you have…] when Hubert [AKA Huey] walked in holding a small object in his hand._

_"Mum…"_

_"Yes?" I said, brightly flashing him my 'what-can-I-do-for-you-angel-of-my-life' smile._

_"Can I give you this?" He asked, shoving a small rectangler object in my face._

_I lent back a little and took it and quickly realised it was a diary. "Oh…thank you, Huey." I said, probably somewhat doubtfully. The name my dear brother picked out for them are going to take me some getting used to. Although to be fair I can't really see Huey carrying off the name 'Turbo', 'Jet' or 'Rebel' so maybe it's for the best…_

_Anyway, as I said I must have looked like I didn't have a clue what I was looking at because he said, helpfully. "It's a diary."_

_"Yes, I can see that." I said, trying not to sound annoyed – I haven't earned the right to be annoyed with them yet after all. "Why are you giving it to me?"_

_A flash of hurt splattered over his face – the same one Donald used to give me when I wouldn't look at his emo poems - and I briefly wondered if I'd accidently upset him. However I don't think I did because he was soon smiling again as he said._

_"Well, I was thinking after, you know, being stuck on the moon for so long it might help you get your thoughts in order and be more adjusted to civilian life! After all the JWG says-"_

_Ah, the JWG. I thought I'd got past that when Fethry was finally kicked out for accidently setting fire to a couple of his campmates tents one camping trip, but apparently not. Anyway_

_"The JWG says that diaries can help someone who has been through a lot of trauma – which you undoubtedly have, let's face it – get their thoughts together and help them be organised. So I managed to find one! Well, actually it's Dewey's from about three Christmases ago. But seeing as he's never looked at it, I thought I'd give it to you!" He finally finished and looked up at me with a beaming smile that briefly [and alarmingly] reminded me of Fethry._

_I think I rember smiling back at him as I said. "Oh, well…thank you, Huey. That's…really lovely. Very thoughtfull. Thank you very much." Gee, when had I gotten so 'thank-you-ish? Anyway, it seemed to do the trick, as they say, as Huey [must get used to that name!] gave me another beaming smile and all but leapt out the kitchen._

_By which point off course the water had stopped boiling and was approaching lukewarm, so I had to boil it again._

_After I'd managed to remember how to make a coffee [Thankfully Donald was a massive coffee-lover from about 16, otherwise I'd be screwed] I set about digging out a pen, then I sat down and – here we are! I have my very own actual diary! Yay! One step towards normal!_


	2. Cooking With Della

**Hey! RoxyGoth here, thank you to Steampunk Wilson and GuitaristGirl963 for reviewing the first chapter and to everyone who has favourited and followed so far.**

**Warning for the whole thing – it might have some language in. Della is an adult after all and the idea is that these are her personal private thoughts. I will try and warn you in the authors notes, but yeah. That's the idea. As well as that some chapter may be longer than others depending on what's going on. This one is quite a long chapter for example. **

**See chapter one for the disclaimer and let's crack on with the scenario that gave me this idea in the first place. [BTW if any of you would like to suggest ideas please feel free – but flames will not be tolerated, thank you]**

_15/09/2019_

_Well. Today had been…interesting to say the least. Basically, I decided, in my infinite wisdom, it would be a good idea for me to actually start, you know, actually bonding with my boys. So the first thing to do was to decide on an activity to do. So after much though [I.E. remembering my own childhood] I decided that baking would be the best thing. After all I fondly remember baking with my own mother and Donald when we were about the boys age [I think we were about the boys age anyway. Maybe a bit younger come to think of it. I'm not sure, I'll ask Donald when he gets back from his cruise]_

_So, anyway, that decided the next thing to do was get a recipe book and that meant going to the kitchen and finding one. So about half an hour later I'm on my hands on knees searching through the cupboard, nearly in tears because I CAN'T find a flippin' cook-book ANYWHERE in the mansion – just bear the word I used there – the MANSION. Anyway, so the next thing I know I hear Auntie Beakley's voice behind me. _

"_Miss Della, what are you doing?" She asked, in the tone of voice that even I know means she thinks I'm losing my marbles. _

"_Looking for a cookbook." I say from somewhere in the depths of a cupboard. _

"_Have you, perhaps, tried the cookbook shelf?" She said, dryly, and I paused before coming out the cupboard and saying._

"_What?"_

"_The cookbook shelf. Directly above you." I looked up and sure enough, there were about ten cookbooks on a lovely little metal shelf. Dammit. Why hadn't anyone every pointed that out to me before? Now I look like an idiot, and let's face it I don't need any help on that front._

_ANYWAY a couple of swear words and one standing-on-a-chair-to-receive-said-cookbook later and I was flicking through the pages trying to find a suitable cake [I.E. extremely easy, because I failed Food Tech back in my High School days and I'm not being showed up in front of the boys] when Auntie Beakley walked back into the kitchen – this time holding a bucket and mop – and seeing me pouring over this stupid book, said:_

"_What are you doing, Della?"_

_Which I had thought was obvious, but clearly not, so I explained what I wanted to do and she said. "Why don't you let the boys decide? That might make them feel more included."_

_Which to be fair wasn't a bad idea AT ALL. So I say that that's a good idea, and It looks like she's about to just get on with mopping the floor when she clearly thinks better of it and says. "Well I suppose I'll leave the kitchen if you five are about to make a mess-"_

_Five? What's she on about? Last time I checked one and three was four, so I said. "-Whoa, whoa." I gave her a look. "Last time I checked I had THREE sons, not four. Unless you're telling me I lost one along the way somewhere?" It was meant to be a light-hearted joke, but Beakley just pursed her mouth up and briefly looked like someone had hit her with a wet fish before saying._

"_Of course not, Della, I simply assumed you would be involving Webby in your little cooking expedition?"_

_Dammit, Webby! I must admit, I'd completely forgotten about her. I mean, she seems cool. Reminds me a lot of me when I was younger – though I had WAY more social skills – but…she wasn't part of my VISION, and I don't meant that in a nasty way – I really don't, as I said I think Webby is cool – but this was meant to be ME bonding with MY boys!_

_So I put on my big girl pants and explained this calmly and rationally to Beakley, and she pursed her beak up again before picking up the mop and bucket and simply walking out the room, leaving me feeling like a complete prat in the process. _

_So the next thing to do was to find the boys and explain to them my wonderful idea and then we would bake and it would be lovely, the kitchen would be filled with delicious smells and they would be happy and smiling at the end of it, and of course we would have cake at the end of it as well, which we would share with everyone in the manor and it would be a lovely little scene, like something at the end of a feel-good Christmas movie, except, you know, not at Christmas. _

_Anyway, so I looked everywhere for them - and it took so long I started to wonder if they were actually hiding from me – when I eventually discovered them in Huey's room. Which, to be fair, I probably should have started with in the first place. So the next conversation went like this:_

_Me, sticking my head round the door with a beaming motherly smile: Hey, boys!_

_Boys: Hey mom!_

_Awquad silence. _

_Me, smiling practically breaking my face: So, I was thinking we could so some baking! [Cue Huey's face lighting up and the other two looking at each other in thinly-veiled horror]_

_Huey: [Enthusiastically] Oh, that sounds great, Mom!"_

_Dewey: [Markedly less enthusiastically] Yeah, great. What are we cooking out of interest?_

_Louie: [Not even looking up from his bloody phone] Unless it's cake, I'm not interested. _

_Me: Well, actually, it IS cake._

_Huey: [Nearly bursting with enthusiasm] What kind?_

_Me: Well, I thought you guys could pick. _

_That got them interested all right, and they looked at each other – did the triplet-telepathic thing and said, in unison. "Chocolate?"_

_I laughed. "Alright, chocolate."_

_To be honest that really reassured me that I have something in comment with them – chocolate is my favourite to – and I was riding a cloud of happiness until Dewey burst it by saying._

"_Awesome! I'll get Webby-"_

"_No!" I said, maybe to quickly given the looks of alarm they were giving me. "Just you guys." I explained. "You know, mother-son bonding."_

_Three separate reactions there. Huey looked positively giddy, Dewey looked excited and Louie just looked slightly apprehensive. Which was a little annoying - as I'm TRYING to be a good mother here – and we all trotted off to the kitchen. _

_You remember about two paragraphs ago when I mentioned that lovely scene I pictured with warm domestic bonding and three happy smiling faces at the end of it? Yeah, didn't happen. I don't really want to go into to much detail, but basically there was an mini-argument between the boys about what TYPE of chocolate cake they wanted to cook. Louie was very keen on the idea of a triple chocolate sponge with heaps of icing, but as I CAN'T COOK I quickly ruled that one out and he sulked and sat at the table with his phone. _

_So that left Huey and Dewey, who managed to decide between them that we would do a Victoria sponge. Chocolate version – very nice. But there was an argument about who would put the eggs in and who would do the flour and Huey kept wanting to ADD things to it which definitely weren't in the cook book and that myself and Dewey quickly ruled out. I mean, some of them were alright, but one of them was ginger for goodness sake. Who wants ginger in a Victoria Sponge? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of adding things to the recipe –which is a good part of the reason I failed Food Tech – but a line has to be drawn somewhere._

_So by the time we'd wrestled the cake to the oven Louie had disappeared somewhere – again. I get the feeling he's been avoiding me ever since I grounded him, but it was for his own good! I mean, I don't want him to turn out like Gladstone!_

_Don't get me wrong, I love Gladstone dearly - I really do - but there's only room for one of him in the world. And Louie doesn't even have the excuse of never-ending luck to justify his 'I-want-to-get-everything-without-paying-for-anything' attitude._

_Wow. Minor digression there. Anyway – back to the cooking. We sat in silence for the twenty minutes the cake was baking, me being unable to come up with even ONE sentence to say to them that didn't sound either to 'mumsy' or to 'absolutely stupid' to say to them. _

_Twenty minutes later the cake was baked, and we carried on with the decorating and making it look nice. Which we managed – just. We had one close call when Huey wanted to stick bananas on the top of it, but I ruled that out because – hello? It's cake! Cake should be a healthy-free zone!_

_So, to sum it up I wouldn't say it was a 'lovely family scene' but it was a step in the right direction I think. And everyone seemed to like the cake. Even Scrooge cracked a smile when he saw it. [Although that might have been because Dewey did the icing] _

_Anyway, see you next time diary! _


	3. Della and the mystery of School

**Hey! I'm back, thanks to Steampunk Wilson and ****TwiDash FTW .Harmony Dash**** for reviewing the last chapter and for everyone who has favourited and followed thus far.**

**Warning: A bit of bad language. **

**See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's go.**

17/09/2019

So today something finally dawned on me. The kids don't seem to actually go to school. Webby included, I see them all eating breakfast about 8:30 AM then they disappear for a little bit, then I see them about 10:30, then they disappear then they come back into the kitchen wanting lunch about 1 o clock, then they go back and then they're around permanently from about 4 o clock. And I don't know why it took me so long to grasp the concept that – summer is over, therefore what the hell are my kids DOING between 9 and 4 o clock except eating!?

So with this is mind, seeing as Donald is still having a lovely time on his bloody cruise, I went to the next best person to ask: Beakley. The conversation went as thus:

Me: Excuse me, Beakley, I don't suppose you know where my kids go to school? Because I'm a little bit concerned that I don't ever see them leaving the house?

Beakley: [Lowering her glasses and looking at me like I'm the stupidest person on earth and space] They go to school here, Miss Della.

Me: [Audibly surprised] What, here?

Beakley: Yes here.

Me: Wait a min - who teaches them then?

Beakley: [Taking off her glasses and cleaning them so she doesn't have to look at me] That would be me.

To be honest I was actually alright with this news. My main concerned had been that they boys weren't being educated at all and were having to find everything they wanted to know out of either the JWG or the internet, neither of which fills me with complete confidence.

So I thanked Beakley for agreeing to teach my boys – from what I've seen of them so far it's probably quite a challenge – and left her to it.

Well. I attempted to leave her to it. I got to the door and Beakley says. "They did go to school, you know."

No. I don't know. I haven't had chance to pin Donald down and get him to TELL me stuff about the boys upbringing yet, what with his being on a bloody WORLD CRUISE and all. [I mean, honestly, who does he think he is - Gladstone? Calm down, Della, it's really nice he's gone. He's probably really enjoying it…lucky thing]

So I said. "No, I didn't know. Why'd they stop?"

"Scrooge and Donald thought it would be beneficial if the boys were home educated so they could go on adventures more. Like you and Donald were when you were younger."

Now, you see, that sounds nice doesn't it? Like a little family tradition, but what Beakley conveniently forgot to mention was that due to the fact I was a pain in the arse from about 12 after out parents died I actually barely got through middle school. Then only the crappest high schools would accept me. So long story short I actually got kicked out of school at 16. [Having failed nearly every class except for Phis Ed, Science and Maths]

So I was a little bit concerned about WHY the boys were being home-schooled, they're only 11, surely there schools can't not stand the sight of them already!?

Anyway, no point worrying. I can have a lovely conversation with Donald when he FINALLY gets back from his cruise. Which is at the end of the month.

Ugh – HURRY UP OCTOBER!


	4. Putting the Fun in Funsey's

**Hey! I'm back, thanks to MelodySouth65, Sponge Guy, Steampunk Wilson, KaliAnn + TwiDash FTW .Harmony Dash for reviewing the last chapter and to everyone who has favourited and followed so far.**

**As I said I've not been actually watching Ducktales, but one thing I am curious about is how they're portraying other people's reactions to Della. I mean, does anyone even know she's the boys mother? Is there a story? What do people think about her suddenly turning up? **

**So it was with that it mind that this chapter was written.**

**Warning: A bit of language.**

**See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on: **

_21/09/2019_

_Whoo-ooh-ooh, what a day diary! So I thought I'd try bonding again, and seeing as it's a Saturday I decided, in my infinite wisdom, it might be a good idea to take the boys [and Webby considering the fuss Aunt Beakley made last time] out somewhere for a couple of hours. So the first thing to do was to decide where to take them, which necessitated another conversation with Aunt Beakley, who I'm getting the feeling thinks I'm an idiot. _

_The conversation went like this:_

_[She's hoovering in the lounge. I stick my head round the door]_

_Me [With my bestest, sweetest grin]: Oh, Auntie Beakley…?_

_Her: [Turning the hoover off and Looking at me like I've crawled out from under a stone] Yes, Della?_

_Me: I doon;t suppose you know anywhere I can take the boys for a couple of hours do you? _

_Beakley: Well, there's always the library…_

_Well, I assume that was her dry, English wit but just in case it wasn't I said:_

_Me: I meant somewhere they'd actually enjoy, not die of boredom._

_Her: [In a tone that indicates I REALLY should know this after FIVE WEEKS] Huey enjoys the library. He says they have an interesting non-fiction range. However, if that's unsuitable, I suggest Funsey's._

_Me: Oh, right. What's Funsey's? _

_So turns out 'Funsey's' is this place that basically, like, a restaurant for kids. Complete with ball pit. A ball pit! Man what I would have given for this kind of entertainment back when I was a kid. The closest thing me and Donald got to a 'ball pit' was a bat and ball set. And that was quickly confiscated after I broke one of the green glass windows. Which actually wasn't my fault as Donald was, you know, meant to CATCH THE BLOODY BALL! But I digress…_

_So the next thing I did was tell the boys we were going, and they all cheered which made me feel great. But I noticed Webby [who was in the room] looked a little downcast and – realising how it probably made her feel, us doing all these SUPER AMAZING things without her – said: "And Webby can come to, of course." Which instantly brought a smile to her little face and gave me a warm glowy feeling inside. _

_So I told Beakley I was taking her with me – mainly to avoid her hunting me down if she think I've kidnapped her grand-daughter – and got a beam in return, which intensified the glowy feeling – then I stopped by Scrooges office, you know, as a matter of courtesy._

_Me: [Popping my head round the door] Hey, Uncle Scrooge! JustlettingyouknowI'mtakingtheboysandWebbyouttoFunsey'sfordinner – bye!_

_Scrooge: Wait a minute! What?_

_I swear to god the guys going deaf._

_Me: I'm taking the boys and Webby to Funsey's for dinner._

_Scrooge: [Leaning back in his chair, taking his glasses off and cleaning them] First, Della, I'm taking it you mean 'Funso?'_

_Dammit Beakley._

_Me: Yes, I mean Funso. Now, gotta go, the boys-_

_Dear Uncle Scrooge: -Can wait. What aboot Money?_

_A beat. Then:_

_Me: Money?_

_Scrooge: [Putting his glasses back on and giving me, what I can only describe as a 'withering glance] Yes, Della, money. What did you think you were going to do? Walk into the restaurant and just get free food? _

_Okay, when he puts it like that I sound like a complete and utter bampot. _

_Me: [Beginning to panic] Well, what am I gonna do!? I said I'd take them out! I can't let them dow-_

_Scrooge: Ah, steady on lass. Here. _

_Then, stand by diary. He actually went into his wallet and gave me some money! I know – I nearly fainted. I can't remember the last time this happened, I though, I've got to add this to the list of things to tell Donald when I – he sorry - gets back. _

_So I was floating on cloud nine when I went down to get the boys – and Webby – when I bumped into Beakley. Who noticed I had the money and asked what I wanted to for. When I explained what had happened to her, she gave a loud laugh and explained – through her chortles – that Scrooge is a LITTLE bit behind the times and the ten dollars he'd given me would NOT be enough to feed myself and four kids and ALSO pay for them to go in the ball pit, which they apparently would consider essential. _

_Sounds like Beakley's done this once or twice before. _

_So she went into HER purse and proceeded to literally hand me over 50 quid._

_50 QUID!_

_Then I felt extremely guilty because I KNOW Uncle Scrooge can't be paying he that much, if anything, but she waved it off and told me as long as Webby came back happy she was happy._

_Which sounds nice and grand-motherly, but it does undermine the nice and grand-motherly tone when you can definitely hear a distinct THREAT under the sentence. I'll be honest I got the impression that if Webby got even a SCRATCH on her they'll be hell to pay._

_So I mentioned that because I wanted to give a picture of the immense STRAIN I was feeling when I finally got the kids to Funso's. And once I paid for them to get in the place they immediately started whooping and cheering and ran to the ball pit._

_I must admit that ticked me off something rotten. I'd just bloody paid for these kids – one of them who's not even technically mine – to go into a restaurant and not one of them can even spend two minutes with me while I order the food? I know they're still probably pissed with me for, you know, abandoning them for ten years, but STILL._

_So there I was muttering words under my breath that darling doting mummies definitely shouldn't say, when the women behind the desk – so the one serving me – goes:_

_Bitchy Women: So…are those your kids?_

_Me: [A bit taken back, cos it's REALLY none of her business] Yes they are. Well, the girl isn't, but the boys are._

_BW: [Pouring the coffee] …Don't they usually come in with their dad?_

_Well! Excuse me, I know I've been away ten years and times have clearly changed but from WHEN was it acceptable for staff to question customers about their life habits!?_

_Me: He's not their dad actually. [Her eyebrows shoot up into her hair, and I instantly realise how that sounds] _

_Her: Well-!_

_Me: [mortified] He's my brother!_

_Her: What!?_

_Me: [Digging a seriously deep hole] No! Agh - He's been looking after them – look, can I have my freakin' coffee please!?_

_Her: We don't tolerate bad language in here!_

_Me: Oh, so I can't swear but you can integrate me about my life choices!?_

_Her: I wasn't integrating-_

_Me: [Half-hysterical with literally half the shop staring at me] Yes you were! I'm sorry I haven't been perfect, but who's bloody perfect anyway! I'M TRYINH HERE!_

_Cue a voice from behind me:_

_Huey: Mom?_

_I turn round – the boys and Webby are all there, the boys are looking mortified and Webby's just staring at the floor. _

_Huey: What-_

_Dewey: -Are you-_

_Louie: -Doing!?_

_Me: [Feeling like I'm about to burst into tears] We're leaving! C'mon!_

_BW: -Your coffee!_

_Me: STUFF THE COFFEE! Boys, Webby, we're going – now!_

_Okay, so maybe in hindsight I was a little hysterical. We literally didn't talk all the way home. It was ridiculous. And when we went back I had to hand back the money to Scrooge and Beakley respectively and naturally they both asked what had happened, but I brushed them off and refused to talk about it._

_So I went to my room and – after screaming into my pillow for a little bit – automatically reached for my phone, before remembering that I can't rant to Donald because HE'S ON A FREAKING WORLD CRUISE!_

_Ugh. I'm exhausted. That stupid Barista women…she'd got me thinking about a lot of stuff I'd rather not think about._

_UGH. I hate my life. _


	5. Still a way to go

**Hey! RoxyGoth here, twp updates within 24 hours, I am on a roll! So first up thank you to Steampunk Wilson and SpongeGuy for reviewing the last chapter, it means a lot.**

**Secondly, if you havn't read chapter 4 yet I suggest you go back and do so otherwise you might be a bit like 'What's happened?' during this chapter.**

**So, with that said, see chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on with chapter 5. **

_22/09/2019_

_So I thought I woke up really early today, until I looked over at the digital clock Scrooge managed to dig out of the back of beyond somewhere and saw it was actually 11:07 AM. _

_And that just set the day off nicely because Beakley has made it abundantly clear that she serves breakfast between 8-10 every day. No earlier, no later under any circumstances, up to, and including, death_

_So I was sulking in the lounge downstairs, still smarming over that bloody stupid women yesterday when Beakley came in with the hoover and put it down next to me before asking, politely. "Do you mind if I hoover in here, Miss Della?"_

"_Knock yourself out." I said, waving a hand._

_She scrunched her beak up and I realised I came across as rude but honest to god I couldn't care less at that point, as I was beyond freakin' hungry._

_So she stuck the hoover on and there was silence, well. Not complete silence, obviously, cos – the hoover, but you know what I mean. We didn't talk for ages, until she turned said hoover off and said._

"_Webbigail told me about your little outburst yesterday."_

_My hand tightened around the remote and I consider lobbing it at her head, but I [mercifully] didn't, I just resolved to steadily ignore her and hope the message got across._

_However, then she carried on with: "I appreciate you're new to this, Della, but you really can't go around making that kind of scene if front of the children. It's not appropriate."_

_At which I burst out laughing. And when I say 'burst out laughing' I don't just mean a little laugh, maybe followed by a coughing fit afterwards, I mean proper, full on belly-laughter 'Oh My God – this is hysterical' kind of laughter. Kinda like The Joker, you know?_

_And Beakley just watched me. Just stood there and watched me as I did my best Ed impression._

_I laughed so loud Scrooge actually came down from his office, clearly concerned that laughing gas had been pumped into the manor or something, he stood at the door and looked at me – probably in complete disgust – and I heard him say to Beakley. "Is she a'right, Beakley?"_

_By this point my laughter was subsiding and I was becoming aware of my surroundings again. _

_From somewhere in the distance I heard Auntie Beakley say. "She'll be alright. I'll have a word with her, Mr McDuck."_

_So he left and I was left alone with the duck version of Mary Poppins, who after a couple of seconds went. "Would you mind explaining to me exactly what happened, Dells?"_

_So I did. I'm still not sure why. Maybe it was the mix of the childhood nickname and the fact that she looked so DAMN MOTHERLY standing there, sympathetically, but I told her everything that happened yesterday and how it made me feel like everyone was judging me and how I hated that and she. Just. Listened._

_And whoever said laughter was the best medicine has clearly not had someone just sit there and listen to them rant, because I would argue that is a LOT better. _

_And then, when I finally finished spilling my guts, she hugged me and I cried into her bosom for about…oh I don't know. Twenty minutes? It was ridiculous. I have not broken down like that since I first realised, I was going to miss my eggs hatching because of my own STUPIDITY and EGO. So eleven years, for those of you who like maths. _

_So I won't go into what happened next, but basically we sat down and talked for ages and she explained to me that parenting doesn't just happen overnight and that it's alright to make mistakes – indeed it's normal – and she's pleased [actually pleased!] that I'm doing my best to take the reins and not leave it all to Donald. Although she did suggest I speak to him ASAP, which I assured her I plan to do LITERALLY as soon as he sets foot in the door, to which she said._

"_Maybe let him unpack first."_

_And I laughed – genuine laughter not hyena laughter – and I hugged her and I just felt SO. MUCH. BETTER._

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

_So I've just had an interesting moment with Louie. Basically I went into the kitchen to get some late lunch – cos it suddenly dawned on my it was like, three O clock and I hadn't eaten anything yet – and he was there with a book, writing stuff in it._

_Me: Oh, hello, sweetie. What are you doing?_

_Louie: [Not even looking up] Maths homework._

_Me: Ah, I see._

_I was pretty pleased to be honest to see that Beakley even goes to the trouble of giving them homework AND that they actually DO IT. I mean, when I was there age I never did my homework. I was too busy doing things like, hanging with friends, trying to get Donald to interact with people, helping out Fethry and Gladstone all WHILE going on adventures with Scrooge. Yeah, it was pretty hectic. And then my mum died the next year and everything went to hell, but we'll gloss over that for now…_

_Anyway, so I went about making my lunch while doing that thing my mother was so good at, where you try and keep an eye on your children while trying to look like you're NOT keeping an eye on them. Apparently, I need more practice, whoever because Reb – Louie dammit! – LOUIE, again without even looking up said._

"_Everything alright?"_

"_You're doing those pretty fast." I said, stirring my coffee._

_He smiled and looked the book. "Yeah, I am." He said, with a hint of pride._

"_What subject is it?"_

"_Maths." _

_At which point my heart swelled because – hello? I love maths!_

"_Oh, really!? I love Maths!" I said, happily sitting next to him. _

_He gave me a sidewards look and said, in surprise. "Really?"_

"_Yeah! One of the few subjects I passed." I said, earning a look of suspicion from my son. _

_Before he could press me on that, I asked him a few questions about his homework, and he started explaining Algebra to me. To be honest, I could remember a lot of it, but it was nice to hear his genuine enthusiasm for it. I mean, don't get me wrong, he started off very hesitantly and he sounded like he'd rather be ANYWHERE but next to me, but once I made it clear I wasn't going anywhere he started to warm up - I think - and yeah. We had a lovely 45 minutes. I actually got so wrapped up in it that the coffee went cold and I had to heat it up in the microwave._

_Well. I ATTEMPTED to heat it up in the microwave. Because the thing is with all these objects nowadays is that they all seem to have a reflection and a microwave is no exception. So I caught sight of myself in it and kinda froze. It's just…ugh. I can't describe it._

_Anyway, I must have been starting at myself for a little while because the next thing I know the coffee's being taken out my hand by Auntie Beakley – who I assume Louie must have got at some point – and she put it in the microwave, while saying in her prim British accent. "Now, let's just put this in there shall we? How long do you think, Dells? 30 seconds? Della? Della!"_

_I shook myself back to reality. "Yeah…thirty seconds…great." So she pressed the button and then gave me a concerned look and guided me towards the door. "Just…go sit down in the living room, dear. I'll bring this through in a minute."_

_There was no one in the living room – thank god or I think I might have burst into tears – and she brought the coffee in within a matter of seconds, put the telly on and we just sat there and watched TV. It was nice. No, it wasn't nice actually, nice isn't the right word, it was DISTRACTING and distraction is definitely what I needed right then._


	6. Della and the Library

**Hey! Roxy Goth here, thank you to MelodySouth65, Steampunk Wilson + KaliAnn for reviewing the last chapter and to everyone who has favourited and followed so far. It means a lot. **

**So with that, see chapter one for the disclaimer and let's crack on.**

_28/09/2019_

_Saturday, Saturday, Saturday! What do you DO with your children on a Saturday!? They just don't sit still! Well, except for Louie who would be happy to spend the entire day in front of the TV if I would let him. To be fair, I can see why, TV is SOOOOO much better than when I was a kid, especially since they introduced the X Factor, but, sigh, I am a mother. I have to put my foot down sometimes. But of course in order to do that, I needed to have something else in mind for him – them – to do._

_And seeing as I'm certainly not going back to Funso's anytime soon I decided to ask Auntie Beakley for help again. I got to the top of the stairs and then paused as I pictured the look on her face if I asked her for yet MORE ADVICE on how to raise my own kids. So I went back to my room, sat on my bed and pondered everything she had told me over the past couple of weeks about what my kids like. After a couple of minutes I had what Gyro would call a 'LIGHTBULB MOMENT!'. _

_The library. Beakley mentioned Huey likes the library. Fair enough I can't remember if she said the rest of them likes the library, but it'll be something for them to do for a couple of hours. And it'll stop Louie making his eyes square._

_So with that I rounder all my darlings up – and Webby – and told them all we were going to the library._

_4 different reactions their. Huey looked delighted and started babbling about books he wanted to get out. Webby kind of did this little jump and spun around before clapping her hands and announcing she had books she wanted to take back before then running off to her room._

_Dewey waited till she had gone and started complaining about why we had to go to the LIBRARY Mom and that it's BORING and only nerds like Huey like it and can't we go to a theme park instead?_

_Geez, I had enough trouble getting money for Funso's let alone a flippin' theme park! _

_Louie didn't really say anything at first, but when I asked him he kinda wrinkled his beak and said. "Do we havta take books out?"_

_No Louie. I'm taking you there so you can stare at them for a couple of hours. Yes! I would prefer you to take books out!_

_However, he looked nervous and remembering Gladstone's attitude around books – I.E. detesting them whole-heartedly – I said. "Well, maybe not, but if you could at least have a look?" And he paused and then nodded, and I did a kinda 'yes' motion, before realising I had actually done that in front of my boys [and Webby] and they were [all] now giving me very strange looks._

_So I ushered them of to the library after telling Beakley and Scrooge where we were going and we set of. _

_Except that it turned out that the library wasn't where I thought it would be. It used to be right in the middle of Duckberg, next to the Mayer's office, but clearly it's moved because there's a pub there instead that is literally called 'The Old Library'_

_Louie took one look at it and with an exaggerated shrug said. "Ah, it's not there anymore – what a shame! Let's go back, we can watch-"_

"_No!" I snapped, feeling my blood boil. "I SAID we are going to the library therefore we are GOING to the library!"_

_Louie folded his arms and full-on glared at me. "And how are we going to get there, mom?" He asked, with a voice just FULL of sass._

_To which I gave him my best 'Gladstone Glare' - I.E. the glare I used to use to get Gladstone to do stuff – and said. "Llewellyn____Duck." He flinched, but I carried on. "I have had ENOUGH of your sass, young man! Now, I SAID we are going to the library therefore we are GOING TO THE LIBRARY!"_

"_I've got it." Huey interrupted, looking at his phone._

_I'll be honest with you, at first glance I nearly ripped it out his hands and threw it into the traffic, but then his words actually sunk in and just said. "What do you 'you've got it'?"_

_He grinned brightly and waved his phone at me. "I looked up the directions on the GPS on my phone." He explained. "It's about twenty minutes walk."_

_I paused and weighed up my options before grinning and ruffling Huey's hair. "Well then, Scoutmaster Huey. You better lead us there. C'mon b-kids!" I said, seeing Dewey and Louie had their mouths open. "Let's go!"_

_So, we all followed Huey to the library. We did the duck line, because I thought that was safest. So, picture the scene, he was at front with the phone rattling off directions and I was at the back yelling thing like. "Louie, look up! Dewey, watch the kerb! Huey, press the pedestrian button!" At one point I was so flustered I went. "Webby-!" Before realising that she hadn't actually done anything, but by that point she was looking at my curiously, so I saved the situation by going. "-Carry on!" To which she gave me a happy salute and skipped after Louie._

_Anyway after longer than twenty minutes – because Louie kept stopping for various different reasons – we made it._

_So the kids ran through the doors and proceeded to split off in different directions, while I stand in the doors and shriek after them. "STAY TOGETHER!" and proceeded to get angry stares off strangers._

_So while the boys [and Webby] where running round the library, I collapsed into a nearby chair, put my head in my hands, and although I couldn't actually scream out loud because – hello? Library. I kinda banged my head against my knees for a little bit while hissing 'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' to myself. _

_Because what was I thinking? I don't like the library! I haven't even been in a library since I left school, and the only reason I went then was because – A} I had to pass SOME subjects and b} Gladstone refused to go in without some form of moral support AND Donald refused point black to be in a library with Gladstone for more than five minutes at a time. _

_Anyway, going back to the present-day library, the next thing I hear is a female voice going. "Excuse me, are you alright?" And I looked up to see this member of staff looking at my sympathetically. And Of course, because I didn't want to seem like a freak, I said. "Of course."_

_And she looked at me and said. "Well, If you're sure. However we do have a lot of self-help books in the library, if you'd like me to show you where they are?"_

_Self-help books! You have GOT to be joking me! You think that after eleven years stuck on the freakin' moon I'm gonna open a self-help book and go, 'Oh, this has fixed everything this has! I've seen a new way of life!' Yeah right!_

_However, because I'm not my brother, I didn't actually say that, I just gave a vague. 'I'll think about it." And thankfully the women took the cue and left me alone._

_Anyway, eventually the kids just martialized in front of me, Huey carrying about ten books on varying non-fiction subjects, Dewey with some adventure books – mainly this guys called Bear Grills I noticed – Louie with some comics and Webby with a good mix of fiction and non-fiction._

_So the next thing to do was to take them out, and did I have any clue how to work the machines? No. Thankfully I had four kids with me who just KNOW this stuff like it's their second language and they worked the machine for me._

_Then we went home and I started of by going. "Right, let's go-" Then Huey interrupted with. "Mom…"_

"_Yes, Huey?" I said, smiling at him._

_He adjusted his books in his arms and nervously said. "Could I kinda…lead us back again? I liked it."_

_Well – firstly I just want to stress I actually have a very good memory for routes and stuff and when I've been somewhere I can generally remember the way there and back and this was no exception – but what kind of mother would I be if I ignored those lovely puppy-dog eyes? _

_So Huey led us back and I just kept all the kids in line._

_When we got back they happily told Scrooge and Beakley how much they enjoyed the library and what it was like and Beakley gave me a thumbs up - when the kids weren't looking of course – and Scrooge nodded at me and smiled, which I took to mean he thinks I did well as well._

_Yay! It went well! I can't WAIT to tell Donald about this! Two days to go – Woo-hoo!_


	7. And everything is just

**Hey! I'm back, thank you to Steampunk Wilson, MelodySouth65 and KaliAnn for reviewing and everyone who's favourited and followed so far.**

**Thanks to Steampunk Wilson's review I now realise exactly what I've been MISSING in season 2! OMG! The last episode!**

**[Takes breath] Okay. So I think I've caught up on what's gone on. So, as we don't know exactly what's going on with…you know what. [I'm trying not to spoil it to badly in case people haven't caught up yet] It's safe to assume that everything from the series 2 finale is NOT canon to the series. That's not to say there won't be some adventure though. After all, what's the fun of fanfiction if you can't make up your own adventures? **

**One last quick note – so I've realised I'm going to have to move the timeline slightly. The series 2 finale now takes place on the 29****th**** September, the duck family have spent the 30****th**** recovering it's now October.**

**Warning: Some swearing. **

**Anyway so after that let's crack on…**

_01/10/2019_

_Well! Oh my – I don't even know where to start. The last couple of days have been CRAZY, like proper 'oh my god, we're all gonna die! Oh no wait, I think we're saved!' crazy. Like, proper mad._

_On the bright side we found Donald. Oh a freakin' desert island of all places. Only Donald can crash-land on a desert island with no food, no drink no nothing and STILL be alive god knows how long later. _

_I'm so proud of him. _

_And we had our first hug! Yay! Our first hug in – what? 11 years? It was lovely. It was…Ama-, Exce-, Bril – okay, you know what I can't even find the right word to describe it, it was THAT GOOD._

_And then of course Gladstone and Feathry turned up and everything went to hell. _

_Gee, I just read that line back. It sounds like I'm blaming them for 'What Was Nearly The End Of The World As We Know It' but I'm not. The pair of them were quite helpful actually. Although afterwards we've all been so exhausted, we've all basically just slept for the last, like, a Day and a half or something. _

_So I woke up at ridiculous O clock to hear this conversation between Beakley and Duckworth from the corridor outside my room._

_Beakley: And just WHAT do you think you're DOING!?_

_Duckworth: [dryly] I believe the technical term is…vacuuming. _

_To which I sniggered quietly, conscious of the fact Beakley had ears like a hawk. Wait. That's not the expression. What's the expression – bat. That's it, freakin; bat not hawk, get it together Della!_

_Anyway…_

_Beakley: Hoovering is my job. I've always done it-_

_Duckworth:[Interrupting] -Even when you're asleep, Bentina? That takes considerable talent, I must say._

_A beat then:_

_Bentina: Oh…get stuffed, Duckworth. And give me that hoover before I stick it - !_

_At which point I opened the door and stepped out._

_Me with what I believe is described as 'A shit-eating grin': Hel-loo, Auntie Beakley! Duckworth. How are you both this FINE morning?_

_Duckworth: [Doing the ghost equivalent of raising an eyebrow] It's 2pm, Miss Della._

_Another beat._

_Me: Okay, that's bad. Anyway, Is Donald around? Are the boys up? Is everyone alright?_

_Beakley: In reverse order, everyone's fine, the boys are still in bed and the last time I saw Donald he was downstairs watching the television._

_So I went downstairs in order to find my twin, but before I did that I nipped into the kitchen and made both him and me a cup of coffee. The kettle was halfway through boiling when I sensed someone behind me and I whipped round honestly ready to throw the nearest object at whoever it was…_

_But it was Donald. Who took one look at the spoon I was brandishing in the air and said, "Wow. Good morning to you to, Dells."_

_I rolled my eyes and put the spoon down. "Coffee?" I asked, like I hadn't had a minor freak-out._

_He nodded and I went about making it while he sat at the table in silence._

"_So…" I said, as I gave him his drink. "I…have so much to say. But I suppose I should start by thanking you. For looking after the boys all these years. It must have been hard."_

_He nodded slowly and took a sip of his coffee. "Yeah." He admitted, setting the cup down. "It was. 'specially during the first couple of years. But…I had help, so…yeah. I was lucky."_

_I gave him a cheeky grin and said. "Sorry – what was that? Did the great Donald Duck, Mr Unlucky, Mr 'I can never catch a break', Mr 'Why is Gladstone always better than me?' just admit…he's LUCKY?"_

_He looked at me, I looked at him and we both just…laughed. And laughed. And laughed. We laughed so much our sides and beaks hurt. _

_We laughed so much we actually got the kids out of bed. Honestly the boys just appeared at the door, bleary-eyed and still in their pyjamas, with Dewey mumbling. "What's so funny?"_

_And myself and Donald looked at each other, again - I don't think I can ever get enough of seeing him now – and we just said, in unison. "It's a twin thing."_

_Which was a perfect explanation because who would better understand a 'twin thing' than a set of identical triplets? Sure enough they just shrugged and went back to bed. _

_I remember just looking at my twin and grinning inanely. _

_Now, I'll be the first to admit, I've had my fair share – more than my fair share actually – of bad luck, frustrating moments and just those times when you want to scream at the sun, but just then, at that moment…_

_Life felt absolutely perfect. _


	8. A Plan of Action

**Hey! I'm back, thank you to MelodySouth65 and Guest for reviewing the last chapter as well as those who keep favouriting and following this thing.**

**See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on. **

_02/10/2019_

_Warning: A bit of language. [Donald was a sailor after all…]_

_So I have come up with an absolutely AMAZING BRILLIANT FANTASTIC IDEA. We are going to throw a party! Eeeeekkkk! I know, how exciting – I've not been to a party since the baby shower I threw to confirm the fact I was pregnant. So 12 years._

_I decided this at 2 AM last night, while trying to beat insomnia and I have a simple rule when it comes to these ideas that hit me in the middle of the night – if they still seem a good idea the next morning then we go ahead with it. Isn't that right, brain? Why yes, yes it is, Della. Perfectly right. _

_So as I said, I woke up this morning and I was like 'Well, I better get cracking on that brilliant idea I had last night' and went off to find Donald._

_Could I find him anywhere? No. I tried his room, the living room, the kitchen, anywhere you can think off. Eventually I resorted to knocking on Scrooges study and asking him._

_He looked at me, lowered his glasses and said. "Hav' you tried the house-boat?"_

_I clicked my fingers. "No. No I haven't. I'll go now. Thanks Unc."_

_So I went to the houseboat. God knows why I didn't just START THERE to BEGIN with but never mind…_

_Sure enough twinsie was there, trying [and failing] to put up a shelf._

_I'm not entirety sure how to write this, but I'm gonna give it a go. So – picture the scene – he's stood there with nails in his beak, a piece of wood in his hands and is trying to hammer the nails into the wall. Sounds a simple enough process right? Not for my bro._

'_Waaakk!" He splutters in anger as he tried to position a nail without it slipping. "Fucking stupid thing! Stay still you piece of-!"_

"_Donald…" I said, in my sweetest voice. "You do realise you're screaming at a nail, right?"_

"_WELL IT SHOULDN'T HAVE ANNOYED ME!"_

"_Again - It's a _nail_, Don!"_

_He muttered something under his breath which I think was directed at me and didn't sound complimentary in the slightest, however I just steamrolled on with. "Anyway, dear brother of mine, I want to run a plan by you so put the hammer down, take a breath and take a seat." I pulled out a chair and indicated for him to sit at it._

_He grumbled a bit more, but did actually do what I asked. "This better not be another adventure Del, I'm still recovering from the last one-"_

"_-It's not-" I assured him. _

"_-Well what is it then?"_

"_-If you shut up a minute I'm trying to tell you! I want to throw a party."_

_Donald looked confused. "A what?"_

_I looked at him in disbelief. "A party! You know, food, music, dancing, that kind of thing. C'mon, Don, I know I've been gone a good few years but you must have had SOME parties while I was gone, surely?"_

"_Oh yeah, cos we had SO much to celebrate…"_

_I fixed him with a look. "The boys birthday?"_

_He froze and a guilty look came over his face. "We, er…I mean…we kinda…er…"_

_I looked at him in amazement. "Seriously!?"_

_He threw his arms in the air. "We were poor! I did my best, but it wasn't enough to throw proper parties for them like what you're imagining! We had to make do with the houseboat, a CD player and whatever Gladstone brought-slash-won for them! And whatever cake I could cook for them! We…" He trailed of looking at my extremely confused face and shrugged, hopelessly. "…We made do, Dells."_

_There was silence for quite a few seconds while I just…looked at him in utter disbelief. Then I snapped. "N-no! What – what about Scrooge!?"_

_Donald scrunched his beak up. "Oh…him." He sighed. "Well, turns out he WAS actually looking for you but…I didn't know that. I just though he didn't care." Oh geez, his voice was SO bitter when he said this next bit that it was listening to a stranger. "I though he was just being the king of the money bin, counting his money and just wrapped up in past memories and unable to confront the reality that was-" He took a deep breath and said, steadily. "You left. We – we thought you were DEAD Dells - do you not understand that!? I was left raising YOUR boys because of YOUR stupidity!" By this point he had stood up and was shouting and I flinched, but managed to not interrupt. "And now-" He spluttered, face slowly turning red. "You come back and you – you want a PARTY!? Like that's going to fix everything!?" He took a breath, steadied himself on the back of the chair and said, through gritted teeth. "Who would we even INVITE anyway, Dells? Huh? Who? Everyone's practically dead in out family anyway, so who exactly are you thinking would come to this mythical party of yours?"_

_When I was sure he'd finished ranting, I said slowly. "Well…I was thinking we would come up with formal invitations. Invite everyone in the manor – including Auntie Beakley, Webby and Duckworth of course – as well as Feathry and Gladstone of course. We could invite that Violet girl Webby likes. Oh - and Grandma and Gus of course." A thought stuck me and then looked at Donald. "Grandma is alive, isn't she?"_

_He nodded and sank back into the chair. "Yeah." He said, like he hadn't just erupted twenty seconds ago. "Grandma's old but still kicking."_

"_Great, and Gus?"_

"_He's fine. Does a lot of the work still on Grandma's farm, but don't mention that to Grandma if you see her. She likes to think she does most of it herself."_

"_Got it – by the way, how old is Gus now?"_

_Donnie paused and tilted his head as he thought then said, slowly. "Forty…three, I think. Hold on. Yeah, 43."_

_I shook my head. "Geez, time flies. Anyway those two, and - " I paused before looking at my twin. " - Is there any point asking about Abner?"_

_Donald hummed a little, clearly deep in though, then said. "…We could try. The problem with Abner – apart from the obvious – is that I don't know where exactly he's living, so…"_

"_Well, we could ask Feathry, couldn't we? Ooh – actually." I though for a few seconds then clicked my fingers. "We know where Feathry lives don't we? So if we're sending an invitation to Feathry, why don't we send Abner's to the same address and just write on the card – the envelope that is – to be forwarded to Abner's current place of living? Sound good?"_

_Donald shrugged. "We could give it a go. I wouldn't get your hopes up though. He didn't even show up for his own 40__th__ two years ago." I must have looked incredulous, because D held his hands in the air and said. "Don't ask."_

_Fair enough. Anyway I carried on. "Uncle Ludwig and Auntie Matilda?"_

_There was a silence and I looked up to see Donald looking at me awquadly. "…What?"_

"_Dells…I'm sorry to have to tell you this but…Ludwig's dead. He died about two years ago. I'm sorry."_

_I couldn't talk for a little bit because I was sitting there in shock, but eventually I got the braincells to say. "What off?"_

"_Heart attack. It…it was sudden."_

"_And Aunt Matilda?"_

"_Not technically dead but…" Don took a deep breath. "Late stages of Dementia. She's had it officially for five years, un-officially…probably for 8 or 9. She lives in Scotland in a care-home. I think Scrooge is paying for it."_

_I opened my mouth to speak, but instead found myself making this kind of strange wailing sound. Donald instantly got up, walked round and hugged me. _

_After a bit of a cry I managed to steady myself. "Geez…and Gladstone?"_

_Donald looked confused. "He's defiantly alive, Della, you saw him two days ago-"_

"_-No! How'd he react to the news?"_

"_Devastated." Donald said immediately. "Like genuinely…yeah. Well, he's basically lost his parents twice didn't he? He went over to Sctoland for the funeral. It was held in Scotland – the funeral was. Ludwig's request."_

_I held up a hand. "I get the picture. Let's – let's stop talking about it. So…" I closed my eyes and counted out loud the people that where invited to this thing. Donald nodded._

"_Sounds good." He was about to leave when I thought of something._

"_Oh and, Don? If you want to invite some friends along, that's fine."_

"_What sort of friends?"_

_I gave him a look. "Oh anyone you can rustle out of fruit, Don – what sort of friends do you think I mean? I mean Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Max, Daisy-"_

"_-Not Daisy." Donald said quickly._

_I gave him yet another look. "Wha-why not Daisy? What happened with Daisy?" I saw how uncomfortable he looked and added. "Do I need to hit her or something…?"_

"_No! Of course not, don't be ridiculous-"_

"_Well what happened!?"_

"_I'M NOT TELLING YOU! Just get on with the list!" Now If there's one ting I've learnt from being Donald Duck's twin over the years it's when to press him and when NOT to press him and this was a definite DON'T._

"_Fine!" I racked my brains, then clicked my fingers. "What about your boyfriends?"_

_Don turned beat red and snapped. "They are not my boyfriends!" _

_I rolled my eyes. "Yeah sure, whatever Don. Are we inviting them or not?"_

"…_Yes. Yes! Obviously, yes."_

_I gave him a beaming grin. "Well, that's sorted then. Now the date…I was thinking end of November. I believe the 30__th__ is a Saturday?"_

"_Where are we having this party, Della?"_

"_Here, Don. We're having it in Scrooges manor."_

_Donald's eyes went comically wide. "Have you asked him?" He managed to choke out. _

_I waved my hand. "It'll be fine! He loves me, I'll just give him the puppy-dog eyes and he'll cave."_

_Donald looked at me before shaking his head and saying – with audible fondness. "Whatever you say Dell."_


	9. What Scrooge won't tell us

**Hey! I'm back, thanks to KaliAnn, Steampunk Wilson and MelodySouth65 for reviewing the last chapter.**

**So the plans for a party are underway, but before that the ducks have lives to lead and things to take care off…**

**See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on!**

_05/10/2019_

_Gee a lot has happened today. I hardly know where to start – although now that I say that [write that?] I suppose it started this morning at breakfast when Auntie Beakley asked what we were up to today._

_We all looked at each other and shook our heads and she said, briskly. "Well as it's such a nice day I think you should all go out for the day. It would enable me to get some cleaning done. Maybe Funsey's or the park?"_

_Well, never let it be said that the McDuck/Duck clan can't take a hint. Donald finished his mouthful and said. "Well, I suppose we can take the kids somewhere for a couple of hours-"_

"_Fantastic." Beakley said, scooping up all our plates. "It's rather a deep clean so I won't need you to be back till 4 at the latest-"_

"_-Ah sounds good, Beakley." Scrooge said, finishing his coffee. "Noow if you doon't mind, I'm going to ma stud-"_

"_-NO." Beakley said, waving a fork at him threateningly. _

"_But Beakley-!"_

"_No but's, Mr McDuck, I have been wanting to clean your study for the last eight months and today IS. THE. DAY. Do I make myself clear?"_

_Scrooge looked at her. She looked at Scrooge and then had a silent debate. Ten seconds later our dear Uncle throws his hands in the air and snaps. "Well, what am ah meant ta do then!?"_

"_Spend time with your family, perhaps?" Beakley said, dryly._

_So the next step was to decide exactly where we were going. The kids clamoured for Funso's, but after the horror on last time wild horses wouldn't drag me in there, so I said no in my best mum voice. Eventually after a bit of arguing we decided on the library. [Again]_

"_Ah brilliant!" Scrooge said, when I knocked on his study door to tell him. "I've been meaning to go there for a few weeks now…"_

_I must admit I was a little dumbstruck, because - although Scrooge prides himself on being 'smarter than the smarties' - I have NEVER seen him willingly go into a library. I mean, I'm sure some of that is because he's actually GOT a library somewhere in the money bin, but still._

_I said this to him and he chuckled. "Aye, that's true, but I have a specific reason to go in shall we say. One that, unfortunately, my records can't help me with."_

_I looked at the glint in his eyes and the familiar smile and felt a bubble of excitement. "Are we going on another adventure!?"_

_His grin went even wider, if possible, and he tapped the side of his nose. "Ah, noow. Tha' would be telling!"_

_Which is a yes, basically. _

_So on the way to the library I caught up with Donald and explained this to him, in my quietest voice._

"_Wha-!?" Donald squawked in response when I'd finished._

_While the kids [and Scrooge] looked at us in alarm, I smiled brightly at them before grabbing his arm and hissing. "Would you keep it down!?" Into his ear._

_He shook me off, angrily, but did lower his voice. "We've only just come back from an adventure!"_

"_Yeah? And what? Is there a limit as to how many adventures we can have in a year now!?"_

_His eyes sparked and now it was his turn to his into MY ear. "Look, Della, I don't know about you but I am BEYOND the point in my life when I could comfortably risk my own life for a gleaming coin from the depths of the ocean or something! I mean - for goodness sake - I have the boys to think about!"_

_Well. That stung. I mean, I'm thinking about the boys to! They love our adventures, it'll be a real family bonding experience!_

_Anyway, back to Donald. I must have shown how hurt I was, because his eyes went soft and he said. [At normal volume] "Della-"_

"_-Forget it." I said, shoving him away and hurrying to catch up with Scrooge. "This better be a good adventure of yours." I snapped at him._

_He looked surprised for a brief second before his eyes narrowed and he said. "Of course it will, lass! It'll be great!"_

"_What'll be great?" Dewey asked, pushing in0between us. "Are we going on another adventure!?"_

_Scrooge smiled down at him and ruffled his hair – a gesture that caught me totally by surprise as I can't remember him ever doing that to any of us when we were younger. "You'll see lad."_

_So we were all buzzing by the time we got to the library and the kids took some convincing to go away and leave me, Donald and Scrooge to it, but eventually the got the message – via Donald shooing at them – and went away. _

_Once they'd gone Donald put his hands on his hips and whipped round to face Scrooge. "Well then?" He said, rather abruptly. "What's this idea of yours then?"_

_Scrooges eyes sparkled as he announced this next sentence triumphantly. "We…are going…to find…theeeeeeeee – Shield of Achilles!"_

_I felt another flutter of excitement and – being unable to leap around and cheer like I wanted to – settled for wringing my hands and grinning so widely I probably resembled the Joker._

_Donald, of course, was MUCH LESS excited. "How?" He said, like Scrooge had just announced the weather. _

_Scrooge - no doubt picking up on his oh-so-enthusiastic tone – threw him a look and said. "Well, Donald, lad, my plan was to go to Caves Of Ice –"_

_That got Donald's attention. "In Spoonerville?" He checked, excitement FINALLY coming through._

_Scrooge gave him a puzzled look, the significance clearly lost on him. "Yes-" He said, slowly. "Why?"_

_Both myself and Donald gave him a double 'are you stupid?' look. "That's where Goofy lives." My twin reminded him. _

_After a couple of seconds confusement, Scrooge said. "Oh I seeee!" In a tone that indicated he didn't see at all in the slightest. "Well, of course if we get the shield - which I'll show you where it's supposed to be in a moment – then yes. I see no reason why we can't visit…er…"_

"…_Goofy." Donald said, giving our uncle a hard look, as he tapped his foot in annoyance. _

"_-Of course. Yes. After we've found this of course. Let me just track down a map…"_

_Well. 'Tracking down a map' actually turned out to be extremely complicated. Turns out Spoonerville is far away enough that it's not included in the local maps of Duckberg and the surrounding areas, [Like Mouseville] but not close enough to be included in the map of places that are about 20 kilometres away. _

_Eventually – after a lot of bluster from the Donald and myself and Scrooge threatening too complain to the mayor they managed to find one that covered the distances in-between and sure enough Spoonerville was on there. _

"_That's ridiculous!" Donald exploded as soon as we were left alone with the map. "It would have been quicker to just DRIVE to Goofy's and ASK HIM!"_

"_Donald." I said, pointedly. "People are staring."_

_My twin waved a hand and said, huffily. "Ah phooey." W hich I translated as 'let 'em'_

_So, I'll cut out the next bit because it's VERY boring, but basically, we spent literally half an hour looking at this map, right. And basically, Scrooge explained that the shield SHOULD BE in a secret room that's accessible by finding, and I quote, the 'loose icicle'. "That is if it's there." He finished, rolling the map up._

_It took a couple of seconds for the words to sink in, but when they did Donald exploded. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'IF IT'S THERE!?' He yelled – earning several alarmed looks from passers by in the process. Catching the eye of the librarians he quietened his voice and hissed at Scrooge. "What is the POINT of doing this if it might not be there!?"_

"_It should be there." Scrooge said, defensively. "According to all sources Archilles threw it down in a fit of rage and it hit the block of ice – Spoonerville not being there at the time of course – and embodied itself in it for ever-" Scrooge took a breath and it was clear he was enjoying himself. "HOWEVER-"_

"_There's always a however-" Donald muttered to me._

"_-There is one source that says Hephaestus – who created the shield in the first place – was so furious when he heard what had happened that he went down and retrieved it himself and THEN refused to give it back to Archilles when he asked for it back. That legend says it now resides in Hesphaestus chambers as a reminded to people what will happen if they don't respect the objects, he crafts for them." After that long-winded explanation, Scrooge finally took a breath, which gave Donald the opportunity to say._

"_So…why can't we just go and ASK Hes – hes – hesph – the shield guy if he has it and save ourselves the trouble?"_

_Scrooge stroked his chin and – with a sly grin at my twin – said. "Well we could, but THEN of course you would have to see Storkcules again…"_

"_Okay, I'm in." Donald said quickly. "When are we going?"_

"_Well, steady on lad! We need to PLAN first. Get things organised. Buy warm clothes. I would say…" He trailed off and looked at his watch – why that would help him I don't know – then said. "Some time within the first week of November?"_

_And that is the story of our newest adventure! November here we come!_

**Hi! I'm back again, I know I don't usually do end of chapter notes – mainly because I dislike them, but I didn't want to stick this at the top in fear of spoiling the story.**

**Although the Shield of Archilles IS a real artififact – you can look it up if you wish - and it WAS made by Hephaestus that is as far as I'm taking the similarities. I don't THINK it's kept in an ice cave and all that stuff Scrooge said about the legend is a figment of my imagination. **

**Thanks again and bye!**


	10. Off the same coin

**Hey! I'm back. Thank you to MelodySouth65 and Guest for reviewing the last chapter.**

**See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on. **

_08/10/2019_

_SO. Scrooge is not EXACTLY thrilled with me. Turns out he doesn't like the idea of us having a massive party in his house._

_I must say I was quite surprised when he walked into the kitchen with seven letters and put them in front of me with the question: "What are these?"_

_Now. I find it very hard when someone asks such an OBVIOUS question as that, not to role my eyes and answer sarcastically, however seeing as it's Scrooge I said, politely. "They're letters, Uncle Scrooge."_

_He clicked his tongue. "Ah knoow that! It's your writing, why are you writing us letters? We live in the same house as you. Think of the money you've wasted!"_

_Yes. A whole tenner. What a tragedy. Excuse me while I put myself into time-out. _

_However – with an exceeding amount of patience – I said. "Why don't you read it and then maybe you'll see why I sent it to you?"_

_So, muttering under his breath, he ripped the letter open and started it read it. While he was doing that the kids came in and instantly saw the pile of letters. "Oh cool!" Dewey said. "Any for us?"_

"_One for each of you."_

"_Even me!?" Webby said, practically bubbling over with delight. _

_I smiled. "Even you."_

_So there was a lot of excitement and talking as the kids delved into their letters and read it over. It wasn't a long invitation and, as a matter of fact, I was slightly concerned that Scrooge hadn't actually SAID anything yet, but I was distracted when Dewey yelled._

"_A PARTY!? Awesome!" He fist-bumped the air. "Mom, mom – can I be the DJ? I'm a good DJ, Huey, tell her I'm a good DJ!"_

"_He's a good DJ." Huey said, in a manner that reminded me of off the absent-mindedly way we would talk to Feathry when we were younger. _

"_Exactly!" Dewey said, clearly not picking up on the tone. "I can do it! I know I can do it, let me do it, mom? Please, please, please, please, pleeeeeaaaaasssseee?"_

"_Oh, let him do it mom." Louie said. "Otherwise he won't shut up about it all day and I'll have to do something drastic."_

"_Exact- wait. What do you MEAN something drastic!?"_

"_Yes, you can be the DJ." I said, before the argument got out of hand. _

"_Who've you invited to this thing?" Scrooge said, starling us all because he hadn't spoken for literally about ten minutes. _

_I ran through the list of potential attendees, and Scrooge – of course had issues with 3 of them. The first was Abner._

"_Ah am not having that layabout in ma hoose!" _

_Okey. I'll hold my hands up here. When I complied the guest list I MAY have complexly forgotten that Scrooge and Abner have what I call a 'Hate-hate' relationship. I'm not sure what happened, it's never really been discussed. I think it had something to do with an old girlfriend of his? But I really don't know, so yeah. _

_The other two were Gladstone and Feathry because – and I quote. "What have they done to be invited!?" I don't know what's more dumbfounding about that, the idea that Scrooge thinks you have to 'earn' the right to be invited somewhere or the implication that if – by some miracle– HE decided to throw a party Gladstone and Feathry wouldn't be invited. I mean I know the pair of them can be extremely annoying at times – VERY annoying – but they do have their good qualities as well and they ARE family, so…_

_Wow. But of a rant there. Anyway – so after I called him down about the guest list he started on the NEXT thing. "Where are we having this party, then?"_

"_Here!"_

"_HERE!? And when, may I ask, did you decide that?"_

_I thought a moment. "…Last week?"_

"_Las-! Right, kids. Ooot. I need a word with your mother." So the kids all trooped out, shooting me little worried looks as they did so._

_As soon as they'd gone Scrooge rounded on me. "Ah do wish you would THINK of things before you do them, Della! I mean, has it even OCCURRED to you that I might noot WANT a party in ma hoose!?"_

"_It's your family." I shot back, hotly. "Why WOULDN'T you want them here!? And anyway, have YOU considered that the whole reason I'm planning this thing in the first place is because of the SMALL fact of – I havn't SEEN most of them in ELVEN YEARS!"_

"_And who's fault was that!?" Scrooge snapped back. _

_I felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach. I felt physically sick, I mean, I'm TRYING, why can't anyone see that!? Do they not REALISE that it wasn't my intention to get stuck in space for over a decade!?_

_Scrooges eyes softened and he said, with rare tenderness. "Della-"_

_I screamed a curse at him that would have had Beakley fainting in horror and stormed upstairs, brushing past the kids who tried to ask me if I was alright. I then cried into my pillow for a little bit. Then I think I must have fell asleep for a little bit because I woke up with that groggy and dis-orientated feeling you get if you have a nap in the middle of the afternoon. I instantly wished Donald was with me – mainly so I could scream at him for a little bit – but unfortunately he's gone to take the houseboat out on the actual sea for a bit. Something about 'clearing his head' for a bit? I don't blame him. A LOT has been going on in the past couple of months and him being, you know, stuck on an island for about a month in TOTAL isolation probably hasn't helped. _

_Anyway. Yeah. That was today. I must admit Scrooge has sapped my enthusiasm for said party, although on the bright side the boys, Webby and Beakley have all said they're coming. And Duckworth. Can't forget Duckworth._

_So yeah. That's a positive, isn't it? Isn't it? I think it is. I need a second opinion - I know - I'll run it by Donald when he get's back._

_Anyway, catch you next time diary!_


	11. The mystery of the missing invitations

**Hey! I'm back, thanks to KaliAnn, Melodysouth65 + Steampunk Wilson for reviewing the last chapter.**

**See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on. **

**Warning: Swearing.**

_12/10/2019_

_Ugh! You know that moment in life where you could cheerfully strangle yourself for being so stupid? Yeah. Had that moment today. Over the past couple of days I have been growing ever more concerned that NO ONE is replying to my party invitations. I said this to Donald yesterday, who said._

"_Dells, look. I get your concerned, but MAYBE it might be an idea if you don't mention the party for a little while. I think Scrooge is getting a little sick of it."_

_So yeah. Since our little bust-up a couple of days ago Scrooge has been - not QUITE avoiding me - but definitely a little more tense. I think he knows he crossed a line but is to proud to admit it. _

_I ended up telling Donald about this. I didn't want to – despite what I think I said in this thing last time – but by the time he actually dragged himself in at, like, ten o clock my initial anger had subsided so I didn't talk about it._

_ANNOYINGLY THOUGH Donald is actually quite perspective and he gathered something was wrong the next morning. To be fair though I think even Gladstone [who is NOT known for his sensitive and empathetic nature] would have picked that up because me and Scrooge were literally not looking each other is the eye during breakfast the next morning. Which is hard when your sat opposite someone and normally exchange at least a good couple of words during the course of the meal._

_So yeah. Donald noticed and caught me while I was trying to sneak past him to the safety of my room. "What's going on with you and Scrooge!?" He demanded in that 'absolutely no-nonsense' way he's perfected over the years. _

"_Nothing!" I said, looking him in the eye to make sure he knew I was being honest._

_Unfortunately, D knows me to well, and – foot tapping impatiently – he said, in that VERY annoying way of his. "Della…"_

"_Okey fine!" I snapped and proceeded to outline the argument between me and Scrooge. It was hard, especially the part when Scrooge basically said I was a useless piece of shit, but I said it and, to be honest, I felt a lot better when I told him. _

_He then sat me down [in my room] and we had a nice long heart-to-heart about my stupid decisions and how they impacted Donald and the boys and how we think they impacted Scrooge [we were guessing a little. Scrooge isn't exactly known for being open and talkative] and yeah. It was good. It took absolutely bloody ages, but it was good. And needed, definitely needed._

_I remember talking about Louie especially. "I think he hates me." I said._

_Donald sighed. "He doesn't hate you, Dells."_

"_But he's not really talking to me!" I whined. "And I've tried different conversations and None. Of. Them. Work!"_

"_You helped him with his homework that time, didn't you?" Donald said, optimistically. _

_I gave him a look. "Yea, Donald, I did. But that was LAST MONTH! And he's started doing his homework in his room now. I think he's avoiding me."_

"_He's NOT avoiding you." Donald said, firmly. The he sighed. "The thing with Louie, Della, is that…he's a LOT more sensitive than he let's on-"_

"_Kind of like Gladstone was?"_

_Donald wrinkled his beak. "Y-yes, kind of. WAS being that key word in Gladstone case – but let's forget about Gladstone for now – we're focusing on Louie. Now, my guess is you coming back has got him in two emotions. Of course he's pleased you're here – they all are. But he's also probably a little…nervous-"_

"_-What? Nervous? Why?"_

"_-TRYING to explain, here Della!" Donald snapped, before taking a breath. "Because the fact is, and I know you don't like dwelling on it and I get why but – you DID go to space and leave him – them – us - for ten years, Dells. I know-" He held a wing up, seeing I was about to protest and said, soothingly. "I know you didn't mean to and it wasn't your intention and I know you're trying to move on, but…" He took yet another breath. "From Louie's perspective – all of their perspective's really – you LEFT them. You left them and - I didn't tell them. I will hold my hands up, I didn't TELL them the reason you'd left, part of that was because I was SO ANGRY with you. And I still AM on some level. You fucked up Della. Big time. And yes you've come back, and yes, you're trying to make amends, but – have you actually sat down with them? Explained you're reasoning for why you left them?"_

_I said no I hadn't, and he said it might be a good idea if I thought about doing that and we've kinda left it there for now. But when I am meant to talk to them about it? Just knock on the door? Have a family meeting? Write them a letter? Ooh – I like that last one. I might do that. Then they can keep the letters and cherish them forever more. After all, that's what my mother would do if she had something sensitive and important to discuss with us – write a letter. I mean she never did – they didn't discuss those kind of things back in the 1950's/60's. _

_Geez. Just read that back. That was a bit of a ramble wasn't it? Never mind. I'll go back to what I MEANT to talk about when I started this entry. The fact that I – apparently – managed to NOT put a RSVP on the letters or to specify that I was living at Scrooges Manor and THAT'S where the guest should respond to. _

_I discovered this when earlier today Duckworth came in with a phone call for me. "It's Mr Gander for you, Miss."_

_I was surprised. Gladstone doesn't normally call people unless he's either in trouble or extremely bored. Hoping it was the second one, I picked up the phone. "Hey, Gladstone. How are you?"_

"_Good, thanks, Dells-bells." Came his chipper voice. "Just letting you know about that invite you sent me. I can come-"_

"_-Oh brill-!"_

"_Ah, ah, ah." Gladstone said, and I was briefly reminded of part the reason I find him ever-so-slightly irritating. "Feathry is very upset." I asked why and he said, clearly surprised. "Wh -! Because you haven't sent HIM an invitation, Della!"_

_I was shocked. "Yes, I have! I sent it the same time I sent yours! He should have got it by now – he lives closer!"_

_There was a pause. "Wait – where did you send it?" I rolled my eyes and patiently gave him the address of his own cousins house. _

_There was another pause, and then Gladstone said. "…Maybe you better have a word with Feathry." _

_I agreed, thinking he meant another time, then he told me to hang on a minute. Well, I hung on several before Feathry's voice chirped down the telephone. "Hiya, Dells!"_

_I was very supirsed, but [I think] managed to find enough braincells to say "Hey, Feathry! Er…apparently you haven't got my invitation?"_

"_No I didn't. Where did you send it?"_

_So I basically had exactly the same conversation I had with Gladstone with Feathry, except I added the fact I sent Abner's to his house as well._

"_Abner doesn't live with me though." Feathry said and I rolled my eyes._

"_Yes, I gathered that. Where does he live then?"_

_You know where Abner lives? In a hut in the middle of Duckberg Forest. Of course he does. I don't know why I didn't think of that myself._

"_Where do YOU live then?" I asked, feeling a headache coming on. I do tend to get headache's if I talk to Feathry for to long. _

"_Well, at the moment I'm living with Gladstone."_

"_What? Why?"_

"_It's…a long story."_

_I shrugged. "I've got time. What's the shortened version?"_

"…_basically I was employed by Scrooge as basically a janitor-come-care-taker for the McDuck Sub-Lab and it was great for a little while but then…my pay-checks kinda got less? And less. And less. And eventually….stopped coming? And I don't mind still going to work – cos I love the work – but…yeah. I lost the house. They re-possessed it."_

_I rubbed my temple as the head-ache became a sharpened pain. "So…you're living with Gladstone?"_

"_Yeah!" I marvelled at how up-beat he sounded at the prospect. I mean, I love Gladstone, but I don't think I could live with him 24/7. I'd get to jealous. "Yeah. It was a couple of months back. I asked if I could stay with him for a bit and he said yes! How nice is that!?"_

"_Very nice." I said. "How much rent is he asking for?"_

"_No rent." Feathry said, cheerfully. "I just need to help clean the house and but my own food and stuff. He's even alright with leaving me in here while he goes on cruises and stuff."_

"_Great. It sounds great, Feath. Is Gladstone there?"_

_Two minutes later I was yelling at Gladstone. "He lost his house!?"_

"_Don't yell at me!" Gladstone said, defensively. "Blame Scrooge – he's not paying him enough!"_

"_Why me - you take it up with him!"_

"_Er – because I'm not the one living in the same house as him?"_

_Okey, fair enough point. I said so and Gladstone said. "Brill, I'll leave that with you. So – me and Feathry will see you on the 30__th__-"_

"_Or how about before?" I said, an idea suddenly leaping on me. Basically I proposed the four of us – myself, Donald, him and Feathry go on a camping trip. Gladstone loved the idea and between us we narrowed it down to the 26__th__ to 27__th__. _

_I then ran it by Donald, who was less thrilled. "A whole weekend? With Gladstone and Feathry? Camping? Are you mad?"_

_I gave him a look. "It'll be fun, Donald!"_

_He gave me a look back. "Of course it will, Della. Of course it will."_

_So yeah. Been a funny couple of days. I'm concerned about Feathry. Why's his pay dropped? I'll bring it up with Scrooge. Much as they have a rocky relationship I'm sure he'll be horrified to here his pay has caused him to be forced to move in with Gladstone – even if he does seem to be enjoying it. _

_Although – I've just though – Scrooge doesn't actually technically pay his employees. I mean – I'm explaining myself badly – my understanding – unless it's changed in the past ten years – Scrooge approved how much his employees get paid, but it's the Board of Directors that control the finances and ACTUALLY pay them at the end of each month. I dunno. Maybe there's an innocent expiation. A technical error that's been simply overlooked or something. That can happen can't it?_

_Whatever happens, I'll try and forget it for now. No point giving myself sleepless night._

_Anyway – see you next time diary!_


	12. The Over-due visit

**Hey! I'm back – after only 24 hours no less! Thank you to Guest, KaliAnn, Steampunk Wilson + Melodysouth65 for the lovely comments you guys made in your last reviews. **

**Part of the reason I wanted to get this up now is because I think I might not be able to update for the next couple of days. Or maybe the next week. So I'll give you this for now – hope you enjoy the longest chapter to date!**

**So, I do have a bit of an over-arching storyline to this fanfic. Can any of you guess what it might be? If you manage it I'll PM you instead of a shout out. **

**But anayway, I'm writing the chapters as and when they come to me in flashes of inspiration. This chapter came to my mind when I realised Della hasn't made any mention of a certain person yet…**

**Also – just a heads up. Anything I sat about Mickey and Goofy is my own personal headcanons and is not in any way to be taken completely seriously. **

**Warning: Swearwords and potentially upsetting subjects. **

**So with no further ado see chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on. **

_So I finally saw Gyro today. It's kind of always been in the back of my mind to do so ever since I got back but I kinda…never got round to it? Awful of me, I know, but there you go._

_I probably shouldn't have gone today. I have SO much other stuff I probably need to do…talk with Scrooge about Feathry..talk with the boys about, well, EVERYTHING. SO much to do…_

_The boys, I'm waiting for the right time. I don't know when that will be but I'm sure it will come. I tried to draft a letter to Louie but literally got as far as 'Dear Louie' and stalled. Where the hell do I start? Well. Sorry's probably a good idea, but it seems…hollow somehow. I need to think about it more. _

_Huh. Funny that. Me actually thinking about stuff. God I've grown from the headstrong kid I used to be. It's just…I'm so scared. I just don't want to make another mistake. I've made enough for a couple of years. _

_On the flip side I NEARLY managed to talk with Scrooge. I had the perfect opportunity. He was alone in the kitchen making himself a tea - he's been very busy with adventuring plans lately – and I happened to walk in. "Hi." I said, after a moment of Awquad Silence._

_He looked up and – seeing my reflection in the microwave – said, airily. "Ah. Hellooo Della…"_

_Then there was another silence and I considered walking out, but put on my big girl pants and said. "H-how's the plans for the caves coming?"_

_Another pause while he slowly stirred his tea. Then he said. "It's been going well. I've ordered more warm clothes so none of us will be poorly suited to the conditions." He wrinkled his beak and added. "It cost a pretty penny, it did. Those kids never stop growing."_

_I chuckled. "Tell me about it. The boys will be up to my shoulders soon. I think they get there height from their dad." As soon as I said it, I felt the same way I always feel when I talk about HIM. Sadness and a lot of anger. I mean – I don't know where he went. He just fucked off and left. Gyro'd out when I told him there were three eggs._

"_What – at the same time!?" I remember him saying in audible horror._

_I rolled my eyes. "No. I thought I'd space them out a bit…give us more time to adjust – of course I mean at the same time!"_

_Yeah. So shortly after that conversation he left and Donald, let me tell you, let out the LONGEST line of curse words EVER when he heard, which was quickly joined by Daisy. Even Mickey – Mickey of all mice – was like 'Well. That's freakin' unacceptable' [Freakin' is the closest Mickey will ever get to swearing. He's the type that will come up with multiple variations of swearing to make sure he doesn't actually say the word. I think it comes from being a role model to so many kids. I couldn't do it, I know that. I enjoy cussing to much.]_

_And Goofy – oh. Bless Goofy. Cos by that point Max was about…5? I think? I'm not sure. But no older than 7 for sure, and all that stuff with his wife was still kinda raw and he was like, proper seething. 'What kind of man can turn his back on his kids? Kids are wonderful. They're a joy to have. I mean – they're very hard work at times…' [Cue him looking at his living room floor that was almost entirely filled with toys] …But they're a joy.'_

_So yeah. Back to the kitchen. After that comment about the boy's dad the atmosphere got, like, proper frosty because no one likes to mention that asshole of a duck on a good day, let alone when we're still getting over an argument. _

_So I left the kitchen and was pondering for something to do, when an idea struck me and I though 'I know! I'll go and visit Gyro! I'm SURE he'll be pleased to see me!"_

_What the duck was I thinking? When has Gyro ever been pleased to see ANYONE let alone ME!? So I turned up at the Money Bin, cos I figured he still worked there, and I found his way to what used to be his office – I wasn't sure if it was his – but I grew more confident that it was mainly due to the sheer amount of NOISE that was emmiting from the room. And the door wasn't even propped open, it was shut. And it's a big metal door as well. Kinda reminds me off the one on Selene except that one was a different shape – and not REALLY the point Della!_

_So I knocked on the door – as you do – and the silence just stopped. Literally stopped dead. And I heard Gyro's voice from inside, still as loud and annoying as ever. "Go see who that is, Cabrera!"_

_Already I was regretting ever coming over, but I had no time to make a quick escape as the door was opened and this, rather NICE-LOOKING Duck opened it and looked at me, clearly puzzled. "Er…Hello?" He said, curiously._

_To which I said, something along the lines off. "Hi! Della Duck – Donald's twin sister. Is the King of Crazy around?" Now. 'The King of Crazy' is one of my many, MANY pet names for Gyro. It's my fifth favourite, just falling shy of 'Mr Eureka' [4__th__], Royal Pain [3__rd__], 'Leonardo De Nutjob' [2__nd__] and – my personal favourite – 'Mr Sociable'. I love that one! Gyro always looks so offended when I use it, it's hilarious. And it gets a good laugh if there's other people around._

_However I forgot that this perfect stranger doesn't know about my affectionate nicknames for The Royal Pain, so he looked very confused until I explained to him I wanted Gyro. He told me to wait a minute and shut the door. _

_However he didn't shut it properly so I could hear every word off it. _

'_Cabera': Er…Doctor Gearloose-"_

_De Nutjob: What!?_

_Cabrera: There's…um…there's a WOMEN at the door for you. _

_Beat_

_De Nutjob: A what?_

_I nearly wet myself. He genuinely sounded like he didn't have a clue what women were. Although to be fair, I'm not surprised. He doesn't like PEOPLE regardless of the gender. Anyway:_

_Cabrera: A women. Says her names…Della Duck?_

_To which Gyro said this immortal line._

_Gyro: You imbecile! Della is not a 'women!'. _

_Cabrera: [Clearly very confused] …Well, what is she then?_

_Gyro: [As he flings the door nearly off its hinges] SHE'S A PAIN! What are you doing here!?_

_Me: [With a sweet smile] Well, I was getting a withdrawal from nerd-talk so I thought I'd come down and rectify that immediately. That and I missed your lovely and kind personality._

_Gyro: [Glaring daggers at me] Crackshell, go analyse something._

_So Cabrera – who also apparently goes by Crackshell – whether that's his actual name or a nickname bestowed upon him by The Royal Pain I don't know – goes off to analyse something and Gyro reluctantly let's me into his lab, with his usual warm and friendly welcome off: "Don't touch anything!"_

_I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry, I won't touch your precious test-tubes. Can I sit here?" I indicated a chair._

"_No! That's mine. The floor will suffice."_

"_Doctor Gearloose!" Crackshell said, with an embarrassed laugh. "It's only for a few minutes! Why don't you let her sit down? It's considered very polite."_

_Gyri scrunched his beak up and spat out. "Fine! Take a seat."_

"_Thannnnkkkk you." I said, with exaggerated politeness as I sat down. _

_Then, I heard this kind of weird beeping sound and I turned my head to see what it was to be greeted with this small…thing with a lightbulb for a head. Not expecting it to be there I proceeded to literally scream my head off and jump off the chair with the following sentence: 'Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god – what is that thing!?'_

_The thing made this kind of high-pitched sad sound and the bulb flickered a bit before it ran off and Gyro snapped. "Oh well done, Dumbella! You scared him!" Before proceeding to stick his head under the desk it had ran under and mutter soothing words to try and get it to come out again._

_By now I was over my shock and I whispered to Crackshell – who had materialised next to me at some point – "So, what is that thing?"_

"_The THING." Crackshell said, in a tone that indicated he clearly didn't like my terminology. "Is called Lil Bulb. To put it simply he's a robot with a lightbulb head." He then lowered his voice and hissed meaningfully into my ear. "He's also basically Gyro's child."_

_Of course he is. Of COURSE he is! I've heard of being married to your work – but this is ridiculous! Maybe I should promote Dr Nut-Job to the top of the list…_

_I was still reeling from this news when I became dimly aware of Gyro saying. "Apologise."_

"_What?" I said, turning to look at him before jumping back as he literally shoved Lil Bulb in front of my face. _

"_APOLOGISE." Dr Screw-Loose snapped, eyes narrowing dangerously._

_I tell you what, it sure feels like you've have hit a low point when you're forced to apologise to a robot, but I did it and even bowed a little to make sure I got the message across. After all I'm not sure how smart the thing is. Although, to be fair, its [presumably] created by Gyro so I think it's safe to assume it's fairly smart at least._

_So after that little adventure Gyro banished Crackshell from his lab – telling him to go home early – and proceeded to ask me questions about how the Spear of Selene was on my test run. I answered his questions as best I could and then, just as I thought he was nearing the end, he changed direction completely. "So, you found the Oxo-Chew then?" He asked, casually drawing circles with a compos on his desk._

"_I did! Thank you, that…that literally saved my life so yeah…thank you."_

"_No problem. I mean – don't get me wrong – you are a COMPLETE pain in the tail feathers - not to mention completely un-intelligent – but, I wouldn't like you to die."_

_Which is basically Gyro's way of saying 'I love you.' _

_So I went 'Aw! Thank you!' and threw my arms around his neck. He squawked and pushed me off while going. _

"_Get off, get off! I don't do physical contact! Go away! Go on – out!" He pointed dramatically at the door and I laughed and said, fondly. _

"_Don't ever change, Gyro, will you?"_

_He looked confused at that. "Most people want me to change." He pointed out._

"_I know." I said. "But don't. Anyway, I'll catch you next time. Bye!"_

_So I left in a dazed state and walked out. I felt really happy to be honest. I enjoy winding Gyro up. Most people assume we hate each other – mainly because we're always bickering – but I prefer to think of us as 'those best friends who act like they hate each other but totally love each other' kind of like Betty and Veronica except, you know, he's a guy. _

_Oh! One thing he also mentioned when I was asking him how things had been in the past eleven years is apparently the Board of Directors – or as Gyro called them – That Committee Of Total Prats – keeps trying to shut his inventions down? Now, if this was any other day of the week I'd probably think it was just, you know, Gyro being his usual over-dramatic self, but that's the second time the B.O.D have been mentioned in 48 hours – and both times negatively. I mean – I'm sure it's nothing, but now I've DEFINETLY got to speak to Scrooge about it. I mean, because of THEM – either directly or [assumingly] indirectly Feathry is now officially homeless and Gyro is CLEARLY extremely stressed. And I'm sure Scrooge doesn't have a clue about either of them, cos, you know, he wouldn't cos he's Scrooge._

_So yeah. I'll make that my priority over the next couple of days. Whenever I get a spare moment to speak to him._


	13. Della VS The 21st Centuary

**Hey! I'm back. Turns out I wasn't as busy as I thought I was! Anyway, thank you to KaliAnn + Steampunk Wilson for reviewing the last chapter.**

**So. So far, Huey has had a chapter with Della, as has Louie. So that means there's only one [Biological] child left…**

**By the way I know it's been stated that the triplets can't really understand Donald and mainly go by context cues, but I do find that slightly un-believable. As someone who has a mate with a speech impediment – you do get used to how someone talks and eventually you come to be able to understand them. Yes, I think the triplets might use context cues more than others would, but I find it hard to believe they don't understand what Donald's saying at least 75 percent of the time. They were brought up by him after all. **

**So, little rant aside, see chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's go!**

_17/10/2019_

_So I was sitting in the kitchen harmlessly drinking a cup of tea and, frankly, enjoying a little bit of peace and quiet when Dewey burst in and quickly brought THAT to a stop. _

"_Mom, mom, mom!" He skidded to a stop in front of me and presented me with a leaflet. "Check this out!"_

_Slightly startled I took the leaflet and looked at it. "Okay…a drama club?" _

"_Yeah!" Dewey said, enthusiastically. "Every Saturday! I wanna join!"_

_I sighed and looked at the leaflet. "Look, I get that, but I can't afford the price."_

"_What about Scrooge?"_

_I know for a fact that Scrooge would take one look at the price of that class and faint. He doesn't like spending money on, what he considers 'frivolous' things and Drama classes DEFINETLY count as frivolous. I mean, me and Donald had issues getting him to help us pay for a prom dress and suit! A PROM DRESS for crying out loud. I remember going._

"_But, Uncle Scrooge! It's one-off-!"_

"_Exactly! Ah'm noot payin' for something that yer only goin' ta wear once!"_

_And yeah. That was the end of that. Thankfully Minnie helped us out._

_Anyway, back to my middle son. "He wouldn't pay." I said to him. _

_Dewey stuck his lip out and – looking me in the eye – said, in a 'whiny-brat' kind of voice. "Buuut Uncccclllleeee Dooonnnnaaallllddddd woooooouuuullllllld!"_

_And that got me, I must admit. I mean – would he? I know we has that heart-to-heart last week about the boys and he DID say, he had tried to give the kids access to extra-curricular activities but didn't really go into much detail apart from that. He did say he managed to get them all signed up to JW's for a little bit – which obviously costs money, at least until Dewey and Louie decided at separate times they didn't want to do it. _

_So I'll admit – I nearly wavered. The thing that stopped me wavering completely was because – with scary timing – Donald himself walked in through the door with. "What would I do?"_

_Dewey IMMEDIATELY stopped and went. "Oh, er, well –"_

_And call it 'mom-intuition' but it was then I got a sneaking feeling that he had been trying to pull one over on me. And I don't like it when people doing that, so I said, to Donald._

"_Apparently you would pay for this?" And passed the leaflet to him. _

_He scanned his eyes over it and said, in a tired voice. "Dewey, we've talked about this."_

"_I know, but they're doing reduced sessions-!"_

"_I know! I can see that but…" Donald put the leaflet down and, kneeling down, said. "I can't afford it, Dewey. If I could I would, I promise, but I can't."_

"_But you can afford for Huey to do his stupid J. W. G stuff." Dewey said, sulkily. _

_Donald's eyes narrowed and I could see the effort it was taking for him NOT to lose him temper. "I can afford for Huey to do his JWG stuff BECAUSE the organisers have kindly agreed to give me a 50 percent discount. These people won't let me do that, I know they won't. So, I know you're upset, but you have to understand. I not that I don't want to, it's that I can't and I don't appreciate you telling your mother that I would either. Especially when you know that that's not true."_

_I couldn't actually see Dewey's face because he was facing away from me, but I could hear his tone as he said. "Sorry Uncle Donald."_

_Donald hugged him and then said. "Thank you, I appreciate that. However it's not me you've got to apologise to. It's your mother."_

_So Dewey turned round to me and apologised to me. And – slightly bewildered by it all – I copied Donald and said, 'thank you, I appreciate that.' Then we shared a hug and he left._

_I waited till I was certain Dewey was out of hearing-range then said to my twin. "What was that?"_

_He looked at me. "What was what?"_

"_That! The hug, the 'thank you I appreciate that' the…everything! I mean, our parents wouldn't have done that! They would have just gone. 'You're not doing it. Either like it or lump it' OR 'If you want to do it that badly save the money up yourself-"_

"_-Yes, but Della, times have changed. You're meant to do this now. Times have changed."_

"_Ugh." I put my head in my arms and said. "This is hard. Hard, hard, hard. I was hoping I'd be able to take inspiration from our parents, but apparently not-"_

"_-Maybe I havn't made myself clear." Donald said, patting my arm, kindly. "Times have changed but we'll still be able to raise these kids. We can do it. After all millions of other parents do across the globe – what?"_

_He said that because I'd lifted my head of the table and gave him A. Look. "You said 'we.'"_

_He paused, spluttered and squawked a little, then said. "Well – yes! I HAVE raised these kids for ten years Dells. And the simple fact is, as…mind-bending and 'squicky' – to quote the kids – the thought IS, they DO consider me there dad. I mean – don't get me wrong-" He said, while I looked at him incredulously. "They, they definitely understand I'm NOT-"_

"_-Please stop talking." I said, head back in my hands. _

"_-But they DO, Della! The simple fact of the matter is they consider me their dad. I'm sorry, it's Awquad to think off, but they do. And of course I understand you're there mother and I'm more than happy to take a step back and let you get on with it BUT I don't think the boys are likely to ever forget I spent the first ten years of their life raising them. And – let's face it with 'he-who-shall-not-be-named' 'gone' – for lack of a better word – I AM the closest thing they have to a father figure."_

_I nodded. "I get that. And I appreciate that, you ARE the best thing I think, for them to have a father figure. I'd rather it was you than Scrooge, Gladstone or Fethry, I'll be honest."_

_We probably should have talked more, but we were interrupted by Huey poking his head round the door. "Uncle Donald?"_

_Donald shot me an apologetic smile and said. "Yes, Huey?"_

"_Is Uncle Mickey going to Goofy's?"_

_There was a pause while Donald looked at me, slightly confused and I shrugged back at him. "What do you mean?" I asked Huey. _

"_When we go to Spoonerville is Uncle Mickey going to be there or not?" Huey said, patiently._

"_I don't think so." Donald said, gently. "Last I heard he's busy with the filming for this new series off his."_

_Huey pulled a face. "But it's aaaggggeeesss since we last saw him!" Geez, what is it with my boys and being whiny today!? _

"_I know. But that's life. Hopefully he'll attend your mothers party next month."_

"_I hope so to." Huey said, looking downcast. Then he brightened up. "We'll see Max at Goofy's won't we?"_

"_I assume so."_

_Huey fist-pumped the air. "Yes! That'll be awesome! I can't wait to see him!" Before bounding off._

_I looked at Donald. "They like Max?"_

_Donald nodded. "He's five years older than them." He pointed out. "They like having a friend who's older than them."_

_I nodded and said, knowingly. "And is Max pleased to have friends five years younger than he is?"_

_Donald laughed and made a '50-50' gesture with his hand. "Well…I don't know about that. The last time we were there the boys accidently broke his x-box. Max was NOT happy."_

"_And Goofy?"_

"_Was Goofy. He initially wouldn't let me pay towards it – but I insisted. After all Goofy isn't exactly a millionaire is he?"_

_I shrugged. "I guess not. Unless he's won the lottery in the last twelve years?"_

_Donald laughed again. "I think I would know about that, Dells. He'd be on the phone quicker than you could say 'H-yuck!'"_


	14. Blast from the Past

**Hey! I'm back, thank you to KaliAnn, MelodySouth65, Steampunk Wilson and NightFrostBreeze for reviewing the last chapter.**

**I have literally just thought of this idea about an hour ago. So as a side note, I just want to re-iterate the stuff I said about two or three chapters ago. Any stuff I say in regards to Mickey, Goofy and the rest is my personal headcanons and is probably not what the show-makers intend. **

**So with that out the way, let's crack on.**

_19/10/2019_

_Talk about a blast from the past! Minnie, of all people, called me today. There I was watching TV with Louie – well. I was watching TV. He was on his BLOODY STUPID PHONE, when Duckworth came in and said, in his prim and proper way. "Mrs Mouse is on the phone for you, Miss Della."_

_Well. You could have knocked me down with my own feather. I havn't heard from Minnie for…well. Eleven years. And, as a matter of fact, we're not that close really. So yeah, I was surprised, as a matter of fact I actually said to Duckworth. "What? Mickey's Minnie?"_

_To which he said, dryly. "I believe they're married, yes."_

_I rolled my eyes. "Well, I know that! I was at the wedding. One of the bridesmaids – remember?"_

"_I don't believe I was there, Miss Della."_

_I paused and shrugged. "Fair enough. Back in a minute, Lou."_

"_Please don't call me that." He said, not looking up from his phone. _

_So I pottered off to the phone and said, somewhat hesitantly down the phone. "Hel-lo?"_

"_DELLA!" Minnie literally shrieked. "Oh my -! I can't BELIEVE you're back! Oh my – this – this is BRILLIANT! Oh! How ARE you!?" And that basically went on for what felt about three hours, but was really about thirty seconds, until I couldn't help laughing as I said._

"_Minnie, are you going to let me answer or what?"_

_She apologised and calmed down and I patiently answered her questions as best I could, and it was really nice, to be honest, which I was a little surprised at, because, basically as I said me and Minnie aren't REALLY 'great friends' to say the least. Basically when our parents died, me and Donald were home-educated for a little bit during which Mickey and Goofy came over and tried to help us with homework [though it was mainly Mickey who did that to be honest] and keep our spirits up. Then when it was time to move to High School, Donald, it was decided, would move back to Duckberg High School and attend lesson there, meanwhile I would continue to be home educated, because, as I think I've mentioned before, no High School wanted me within ten miles of there gates. _

_So, what I'm trying and failing to say, in that it was then that Minnie and Daisy joined the group. So I was never at school with them and I think that's part the reason I never got AS close to them as I did to Mickey and Goofy. That and, to be honest, I just get on better with boys than I do girls. And Minnie and Daisy are DEFINETLY girls. Girly girls I mean. Lipstick, clothes, boys, high-pitched giggling, the lot. So we were friends, but not proper friends. And although they never quite 'excluded' me – the pair of them were to nice for that – I always got the feeling I was never quite 'part of the gang' so to speak. And I was fine with that to be honest – friendship works both ways – I never went out my way to hang round with them. Mainly because there top three bonding activity's are - in order._

_A spa day._

_Shopping [preferably clothes.]_

_Going to see a girly chick flick._

_Now. Those are perfectly acceptable activities for friends to do, but the chick flicks are mind-numbingly boring, the shopping is nice – but not every weekend and – I just don't like spa days. Strangers massaging and prodding and poking you – no thank you. So I didn't spend much time with them – outside of the group - at all. _

_But there we were having a really nice, warm, friendly conversation. I mean – it took ages. Eleven years to catch up with after all. _

_Yeah. It was nice, quite sad though. It's just…I hadn't really realised how much I'd MISSED over eleven years. I mean, I know I must have missed stuff just but the simple fact I was in space, and Donald has told me a little of what I've missed, but it was when I was telling her about the little strop Dewey threw a couple of days back that she said:_

"_Oh yes." And it was the tone that made me stop mid-rant and say._

"_What do you mean 'oh yes?'"_

_To which she said. "Well he has been wanting to this for absolutely AGES now. Yeeeessss, it's definitely a reoccurring theme. I mean, Mickey HAS offered to pay for them – the classes I mean – in the past, but Donald, well. He's Donald, isn't he?"_

_Understanding her completely I agreed that he definetly was. She carried on._

"_But, yes, Dewey – bless him – has been wanting to do classes for years and YEARS now. And he's good, defiantly good. Even Mickey says so – and you KNOW what he's like for lying."_

_Yes. Useless. Mickey can't lie – to people he likes anyway – for toffee. He's much to nice for that._

_She carried on in the above vain for a little bit, but I kinda zoned her out. It was just hitting me that all my friends – except maybe possibly Daisy depending on EXACTLY what's gone on with her and my brother – know my sons better than I do. _

_TALKING of Daisy I did ask Minnie exactly what had happened, but she got [annoyingly] quiet and said. "Well…um…er…I don't know…"_

_I was beginning to get annoyed. "What's the problem, Mins? Clearly SOMETHING has gone on and Donalds not telling me-"_

"_-Well – to be frank, er Dells – if Donald hasn't told you then I don't really feel it's my place to. Plus I am actually still friends with Daisy so…"_

_I got it. I was putting her in an awkward position. So, putting on my 'mature' hat I changed the subject to Mickey and she leapt on it like a life-line and told me ALL ABOUT what he's up to now. [Which is basically filming. Very boring and with lots of long hours. I don't envy his job – even if it does pay ridiculously well] _

_Oh! One more thing before I go for my supper. Her and Daisy now run a 'Boutique' apparently. It is called [And I could have predicted this] 'Pink and Purple' with the tag line. 'You can dream it – we can style it!' She said if I ever wanted to come in she'd give me a discount on a haircut and an item of clothing._

_I said that would be lovely - as I silently made a vow never to go near the place – and agreed that I would pop by the place if I could spare the time – but with three boys, you know!_

_She said she quite understood [despite the fact she possibly couldn't] and then I heard her yelling at some people called 'Morty' and 'Ferdie' before explaining that she was terribly sorry to cut our conversation short [we had been talking for over an hour at this point] but she had to go and would that be okay?_

_I said that would be perfectly fine and she hung up. _

_So yeah. Seems like all's going well in the life of Miss [sorry MRS] Minnie Mouse. Still no further with finding out what happened between Donald and Della though. It's definitely a mystery though and I LOVE a mystery…_

_Drat! Flippin 'ell, I've just remembered I never asked her whether she'd got the invitation to the party! Dammit, dammit, dammit…_

_Never mind. I'll ring her back and ask. Or get Donald to chase Mickey up – though that could easily take half a century at the rate it's going. Maybe I should just assume everyone's coming unless they say otherwise? Maybe that would be the best thing because there's at least half the guests who havn't replied yet. _

_And I reallyhavetogonowbecauseScroogeisyellingatmetogetamoveon – seeyounexttimediary – bye!_


	15. Banished

**Hey! I'm back, thank you to Steampunk Wilson + MelodySouth65 for reviewing the last chapter. **

**I know this might seem an odd place to mention it, but I've started a new fanfiction for Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes. It's called 'Class 7KD and the Mystery of the Missing Money'.**

**So, that aside, see chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on with the longest chapter to date.**

_22/10/2019_

_Scrooge banished us from the house today. He came into the living room where I was harmlessly watching television [still in the process of catching up with the X-Factor] and proceeded to stand in front of the TV and announce. "Ah am very busy today."_

_There was a beat, me being us-sure what to say to that. Eventually I decided on. "Oh. Sorry. Er…anything I can do to help?"_

"_Ah want you and Donald out the house for a couple of hours while I get things sorted for this trip of ours." He got out a hanker chief and dabbed at his forehead. "It'd be a lot less stressful if SOMEONE hadn't insisted we stop of at this Spoonerville place…"_

"_Well, Uncle Scrooge." I said, feeling compelled to stick up for my twin. "You can hardly BLAME Donald for wanting to go and see Goofy. After all they ARE best friends-"_

"_Pah!" Scrooge said. "The problem with Donald is he's 'best friends' with everyone! Why does he have to…KNOW so many people!?"_

_I frowned. "That's hardly fair, Uncle Scrooge." I said. "After all aren't you the one who used to tell us 'It's not what you know, it's who you know?'"_

"_Yes and who does he know? A single father who can't hold down a job for more than five minutes-"_

"_-And one of the best adventures in the world." I protested._

_Cue the explosion. Mickey didn't count as 'one of the best adventures in the world' His series was staged. The animals were tame. He always had a camera crew with him for back-up. He didn't go out alone and battle icy ledges and wild elements. _

_Well, you get the picture. I just kinda tuned him out and thought about other things. _

_Eventually he clocked onto the fact that I wasn't listening and angrily told me to get out. I 'got out' and waited in the car for Donald, who I felt sure was going to be following me in a minute or two. Sure enough about five minutes later I heard some outraged quacking and looked in the read-view mirror to see my brother being ushered out the door by Scrooge._

"_Wak – what's the big idea!?" He was saying at he was bustled out the door. _

"_Ah want the house empty for a little while!"_

"_But the boys-!"_

"_\- Will be fine. Beakley's teachin' 'em. Now GO."_

_So Donald flung open the car door and got into the passenger seat, ranting as he did so. "'Wants the house to himself for a while! Phooey! What could he want to do that's so important he wants us out the way for a couple of HOURS?"_

"_Maybe he wants to take a bath in gold coins." I said dryly. _

_Donald closed his eyes, leaned back in his seat and said, meditatively. "Maybe."_

_I started the car. "So off we go, then. Got any preferences?"_

"_Anywhere." He said._

_I thought for a moment and then said. "I know! We'll go to Gladstone's!"_

_The reaction was immediate. Donald opened his eyes, bolted upright and said. "Anywhere but there! We're seeing him next week for crying out loud!"_

_I clicked my tongue. "You're acting like a five-year old." I said to him. _

_He muttered something under his breath that I didn't catch, but got the gist off. Safe to say it wasn't complimentary. _

"_I don't know." I said, after I had negotiated a tricky junction. "EXACTLY what your problem with Gladstone is-"_

"_He's stuck-up, pompous and a show-off – that enough for you?"_

_I clicked my tongue again. "He's NOT 'stuck-up'. A little bit of a show-off, I admit –"_

"_\- A LITTLE BIT!?"_

"_JUST a little bit, and I don't really think he's 'pompous' - more kind of insensitive, but I REALLY don't think he actually means to be-"_

"_-Ah, forget it!" Donald waved a hand and sulkily looked out the window._

_So the rest of the journey was spent in silence. All 45 minutes of it, till we finally turned up at Gladstone's palace. _

_I should point out it's not ACTUALLY a palace. It's a mansion and it's massive. Like proper massive, it has two pools – one inside, one outside – a GYM, a TV room and…loads more stuff that I've probably forgotten about._

_So we drove up to the lovely green gates that I just adore. The tops of them have been shaped into four-leaf clovers and they're just GORGEOUS. _

_So I pressed the intercom button and Gladstone's voice floated into our ears. "Hel-lo, Gladstone's Gander's digs here. Who are you?"_

"_Your cousins." Donald said, flatly, before I could get a word in edgewise. _

"_Awsome! Hold on, I'll buzz you in…"_

_Two seconds later we'd parked the car and rang the doorbell. Gladstone opened the door with a cheery smile. "Dells-Bells!" He said, holding his arms out. "So nice to see you again!"_

"_Hey Gladstone!" I said, hugging him back. "Lovely to see you again, I mean I know I saw you, like, last month or something but still-"_

"_Hey!" Donald broke in. "What am I? Chopped Liver?"_

_Gladstone rolled his eyes and gave me a look before turning to Donald and saying. "Do you WANT a hug?"_

_Donald held his hands out. "No thanks."_

_Gladstone shrugged and turned to me as if saying 'well, I tried.' "C'min then." He said. "Wipe your feet."_

_As we walked into the hallway Gladstone pressed the intercom button and said, into it. "Yo, Feathers. D and D are here, you comin' down?"_

_There was a crackle and then Feathery's voice trickled through the intercom. "C'min! Be there in a few mins!"_

"_Wait, wait." Donald held his hands up. "Feathery's here?"_

_Gladstone looked at him, then me, then him, then back to me. "You didn't tell him?"_

"_I didn't get round to it." I said, defensively. I mean, I HAVE actually been quite busy since I got back you know, forgive me if I don't fill Donald in on EVERYTHING._

_Gladstone sighed. "Come into the living room. I'll fill you in."_

_So Gladstone filled us in on what had happened, which was basically the same as what I said about three of four entries ago. The main difference was that apparently Feathry actually initially asked only to stay for a COUPLE of days, giving Gladstone the impression that the house was being re-decorated for a couple of days. Which turned into a couple of weeks, which turned into a month. Eventually Gladstone got suspicious and flat out asked Feathry when he was planning to go back to his own house. Cue a few 'ah's' 'ooh's' and 'Well, you see the builders…'_

_But Gladstone can be JUST as stubborn as Donald when he wants to and when he wants an answer to something he will GET an answer to something, come hell or high water. So yeah, Feathry ended up telling our cousin in green exactly what was going on at which point Gladstone instantly said he could stay with him._

_This is my point. Would someone who's a complete prat do that? No._

_Even Donald seemed to realise this and he cleared his throat and started to speak, when the duck in red himself crashed through the door. "Della!" He said in true Feathry style. "How ARE you?" And hugged me as well._

_Donald huffed. "Am I invisible or something!?" He said, angrily._

_Feathry laughed. "Hello Don." He said, giving him a hug to. "How are the boys?"_

_There was an Awquad pause and Gladstone gave me another sidewards look._

_Donald though was chill about it. "Ask Della." He said, nonchalantly, indicating me. "She's been doing a lot of stuff with them recently."_

_So I filled my cousins in on the fun adventures me and the boys have been having. I told them about the trip we we're going on soon and Gladstone said, knowingly._

"_So THAT'S why you two have popped round! I did wonder…"_

_He said it casually, but I felt a pang of guilt and said. "Well, no we've been meaning to see you-"_

"_We have!?" Donald said, giving me a disbelieving look._

_I shot him a glare, but thankfully Gladstone and Feathry laughed. "Don't worry, we get it." Feathry said. "After all you're spending the weekend with us as well."_

"_I hadn't forgotten." Donald said, dryly, giving me another LOOK._

"_Don't worry, we'll go soon." I said. "We're just giving Scrooge some space to get stuff ready for next month."_

_The cousins 'Hummed' a bit, then there was a silence. _

_Said silence was quickly and abruptly broken by Feathry. "Hey, Gladdy, why don't you show them the new jacket you got last week?"_

"_What now?" Gladstone said, taken aback._

_Feathry gave him a wide beam. "Well, why not? You're hardly going to take it camping with you, are you?"_

_Gladstone shrugged. "Sure." He got up and headed to the door, just as he got there he paused then turned to Don. "You know, Don…" He trailed off._

_My twin gave him a look. "…What?"_

"…_I, er, I have a – a voucher for a discount on that company Dewey wants to go to…ten percent. Would that, would that make it more, er, more affordable?"_

_Donald clicked his tongue, clearly thinking it over. "Yeah it would…" He said slowly. "…Slightly."_

"_Do…do you want me to give it to you then? You could maybe get him lessons for Christmas?"_

"_Hhhmm. What do you think, Dells?" My twin asked looking at me._

_I jolted slightly, having not expected to be asked. "Er…yes. Sounds good. A very good idea, thanks Gladstone."_

_Don echoed me and Gladstone held his hands up. "Well, no problem. Anywho. I'll go get this jacket…" And he left._

_Feathry waited to he'd gone, then leapt up and gently shut the door. _

_Me and Donald looked at each other, then said, in perfect unison. "What's up with you?"_

_Feathry gestured at us to keep our voices down. "I'm worried about Gladstone." He announced, sitting himself down._

"_Why?" Donald asked, then added flippantly. "He's not been kidnapped by any more vampires has he?"_

_Now it was mine and Feathry's turn to exchange a look. "What!?" We said, just slightly out of sync._

_Donald looked at first me then Feathry, then, with an awkward laugh, scratched the back of his head. "Heh, heh…didn't I mention that?"_

"_No." I said, glaring daggers at him. "You did not."_

"_Er…I'll give the condensed version. Basically Gladstone got kidnapped by a vampire who fed on luck. He managed to contact us and we flew over and helped him and he's fine now-"_

"_-Er, not so sure about that Donald." Feathry cut in. "Sorry to interrupt." He added, seeing my twin's face. "But I think Gladstone should have found his jacket by now-"_

"_You hid it?" I said, in amusement._

_Feathry shrugged. "Well, I needed some time to speak to you both didn't i? He's been having NIGHTMARES for a little while now. He won't tell me what they're about. He refuses actually to even SAY they're nightmares, but he tries to avoid going to sleep until late – very late I mean – and when he does he yells out and stuff and he often has bags under his eyes-" Feathry stopped suddenly and we heard footsteps coming down the stairs. _

_With extraordinary quickness Feathry changed the subject and was cheerfully telling us about some of the creatures he's seen under the sea when Gladstone came in wearing a new, sparkly green jacket. He said:_

"_Strange…I couldn't find it at first. I was certain I'd left it out, but looks like I never got it out the wardrobe…huh. Never mind. So?" He struck a pose. "Whaddya think?"_

"_I think you should've been a model, Gladdy." I said, admiring his confidence. _

_He grinned at me and straightening his collar, said. "Well, I would Dells-Bells, but you know-"_

"_Too much like work?" Donald said, spitefully. _

_I shot him my third look in thirty minutes, but by then the damage was done and Gladstone snapped. "At least I don't keep getting kicked out of jobs for losing my temper!"_

"_Only cos you've never had a job to begin with!" Donald shot back, getting up and putting his hands on his hips._

_Gladstone's nostrils flared and he said. "Well, it's not my fault no one will hire me!"_

"_Who's is it then, Gladstone? Mine? Scrooges? Feathry's?"_

"_-Leave me out of this." Feathry said, quickly._

"_Donald!" I grabbed his arm. "Shut up, we're going."_

"_-But!"_

"_-But nothing! Bye Gladdy, Bye Feathry. See you Friday – adios!" And I bundled Donald out the door before he could completely ruin everything._

"_What's the big idea?" Donald said as shoved him towards the car. _

"_You. Are. Insufferable!"_

"_He was showing off!"_

"_He was NOT showing off! He was simply showing us his new jacket…" I trailed off. "Okay, so he was kinda showing off. But you MUST have realised that was a decoy by Feathry so he could tell us about Gladstone's nightmares – and I'm pissed with you about that, by the way, why didn't you tell me!?"_

"_I havn't had chance-!"_

"_-Don't give me that, you have SO had chance! You've had LOADS of chances to go 'Oh by the way, Dells, I know it might be upsetting but I need to talk to you about the SMALL fact that Gladstone was KIDNAPPED by a Freakin' VAMPIRE-!"_

"_-We got him back!"_

"_-Oh, well that's alright then! It not like there's this little thing called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or anything-!"_

"_Oh leave off!" Donald snapped. "I know ALL about PTSD, remember?"_

_I stopped dead as I realised exactly WHAT I was saying and to WHO. _

_He read my mind though and apologised first. I apologised as well and we shared a hug. _

_Brothers huh. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. _

_So yeah. We left Gladdy and Feathry on kinda a sour note, so hopefully everything will be alright on Friday. I'll probably phone Friday morning, see if they still want to go. They probably will though. That's the thing with my family, we blow up at each other ALL THE TIME, but then we make up in like a day or two. And anyway life's to short to hold grudges forever isn't it? _


	16. Camping Part 1

**Hey! I'm back, thank you to MelodySouth65, Steampunk Wilson, KaliAnn + Volonqarie for reviewing the last chapter.**

**So…it's the long awaited camping trip. Hopefully it's as good as Della think's it's gonna be. [Winks]**

**So the way this is gonna works is because it takes place over three days, I plan to update today, tomorrow and Sunday. **

**It might not work, but that's my intention. **

**Warning: Some swearing. **

**See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on. **

_25/10/2019_

_So. The camping trip is finally here, We've done it, we've got to Duckberg Camping grounds AND we managed to pitch up the tents. _

_I'm glad we managed it. 3 PM Donald comes into the living room where I'm trying to get the fishing rods so they stand up without falling over and says. "Do you know where my camping stuff is?"_

_I finished arranging the rods and said. "No idea. Where'd you have it last?"_

"_It was in my room. And only you and me have been in my room…"_

"_What!?" I said, and spun round to face him, knocking the rods over in the process. Cue me cursing and on my knees picking them up._

_Donald, to his credit, helped me pick them up, saying as he did so. "I'm not accusing you, Dells, I'm just pointing out-"_

"_There's more than me who lives here, Don! What about the boys, have you asked them?"_

"_What would the boys want-" Donald began. Then he stopped dead. Then he slapped a hand to his forehead. "-Huey!" Before charging up the stairs with. "HUEY!"_

_I followed him, cursing under my breath as I heard the bloody fishing rods fall AGAIN. Donald by this point had opened Huey's bedroom door, walked into his room and was squawking. _

"_What are you doing with my stuff!?"_

"_Oh." I heard Huey say, sounding confused. "This is your stuff?"_

_I came into the room as well, standing slightly behind my twin, and surveyed the scene. It was as follows: Huey's sitting on his bed, there's a load of camping equipment, including a sleeping bag, a travel flask and pillow, all neatly laid out on his bed. _

"_Sorry, I'm lost." I said. "What's all this about? Huey, darling, why have you got your Uncle Donald's camping stuff?"_

"_We're doing a camping badge at the JWG." My oldest said, brightly. "Uncle Donald said I could borrow his stuff."_

"_I said you could have my stuff WHEN I've FINSIHED with it." Donald said, through gritted teeth. _

"_I thought you had finished with it?"_

"_Huey, we're literally packing up for a trip away, it should be in your diary."_

_Huey friend and picked up a neat little red diary. "I haven't got it." He said, in surprise, after checking the dates. "Why haven't I got it?"_

"_You must have forgot-" Donald said, calmly. _

"_-But I NEVER forget-!"_

"_-We all forget occasionally, Huey, it's no big deal. How about you help me carry the stuff downstairs and that'll make it even?" _

_So Huey helped carry the stuff downstairs and after putting it down, stood dithering at the door. "I'm sorry." He said, flapping his hands. "I didn't mean to."_

_I had a brief memory of Feathry, about the same age standing next to a broken vase that I think was at Grandma's place and saying exactly the same thing._

"_Huey." Donald said, gently. "Don't worry about it, it's fine. Look, it's all sorted, nothing's wrong. Me and your mother are going away for the weekend, Uncle Gladstone and Cousin Feathry are going to pick us up in-" he checked his watch. "-Hopefully fifteen minutes and we'll be away until Sunday night. Now, do you remember who's taking you to your J.W.G meeting on Saturday?"_

"_Uncle Scrooge is." _

_Donald nodded. "Exactly. And he knows exactly what time the meeting starts, and he has promised me FAITHFULLY-" Cue a slight eye narrow as he looked at the ceiling. "-That you'll be there on time. Okay?"_

_Huey said okay, they shared a hug – then Huey gave me one just for good measure - and everything was sorted. _

_I waited till Huey left the room before saying to Donald. "He's not always that nervous?"_

_Donald sighed. "It…it varies. He doesn't really like change and he's not a big fan of not knowing EXACTLY what's going on. I personally think that his life's changed SO much in the last few months that he's a little bit panicky about what it all means." He saw the look on my face and said, hurriedly. "For the better I mean. His life's changed for the better – well, all our lives really, but yeah-"_

_Cue a loud HONK! from outside and Donald – clearly keen to change the subject - grabbed his bag and said. "They're here! Let's get going, grab your stuff, Dells-"_

"_-Alright, alright, keep your feathers on!" I said, picking up my own bag. _

_Gladstone and Feathry were outside, in Gladstone's posh car that I forget the name off. They were standing outside the car, having a quiet conversation. Feathry saw us and his eyes lit up._

"_Cousins!" Feathry called, waving wildly. "Hello!"_

"_Hi!" I said, running over and giving him a one-armed hug. "You alright?"_

"_Yeah great-"_

"_-Need a hand with that, Don?" Gladstone's brassy voice cut into the middle of our conversation._

_My twin, who had been struggling down the steps with 2 camping bags slung over his shoulder [I had dropped mine when I saw Feathry] snapped back. "I can manage!"_

_Gladstone looked slightly startled, but then shrugged and leaned back against his car. "Whatever. Knock yourself out Donaldo."_

_Donald shot Gladstone a hard glare before turning on his heel. "I'll get the fishing rods."_

"_I'll get them." I said, and promptly did so._

_When I came back with them it was to discover that at some point while I was gone Beakley had come out with a cool bag full of food and had placed it gently in the middle of the drive before walking off again – presumably to deal with Important Secretarial Stuff, or more likely because she couldn't be arsed._

_So the boys where all standing round looking at this box like it was going to jump up and bight them or something. Seeing this, I said. "Well, who's going to lift it then?" When none of them answered, I sighed dramatically and said. "Look like it'll have to be me then-"_

_Donald promptly cut me off. "-Leave it to me." He said, stretching a bit. _

"_This'll be fun." Gladstone said dryly, from the safety of the car. _

_Donald – after checking to make sure the boys weren't anywhere near the door – flipped him off, before bending down and attempting to pick up this box._

_Well. I have never seen such a performance! He groaned, he moaned, eventually after about ten second she manged to lift it and sent me a triumphant grin before promptly dropping it on his own foot. Cue the swearing and hopping round like a maniac._

"_Geez, Don, are you okay?" Feathry said, in concern, to which Donald gave a angry yell in response. _

"_If you don't mind my saying, Donny-boy." Gladstone drawled, lazily. "You are making rather a hash job of that."_

"_I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU DO IT!" Donald shrieked so loudly they probably heard us in Mouseville. _

_Now. I was expecting an eye roll from Gladstone, maybe a snarky response to go along with it. What I was NOT expecting was for Gladstone to push himself off his car, and with a few quick, efficient stretches said: "Fair enough." Before proceeding to lift the cool bag up with basically no effort and lifted it seamlessly into the back of the car. He then dusted his hands off and looked at Donald. "See? Easy."_

_There was a beat then Donald – having managed to pick his jaw up of the ground – said. "Yes. Easy."_

_Gladstone laughed and said, cheerfully. "I swear you lot forget I'm half-Goose!"_

_We do actually, to be fair. I think it's because he's the same height as us. Most Geese are taller than ducks as a general rule. Gus, for instance, despite being half-coot has inherited the 'tall' genes from his goose side of the family and is, as a result, half a head taller than us. And it's strange because Abner and Feathry – who are also half-duck, half-coot average out at the same height as a duck. It's very strange. _

_Anyway, Gladstone's genetics aside, we eventually got on the road and after a lot of arguing about what CD to put on, when to stop for a break, and various other things we made it there._

_It was hard. Travelling for 2 and a half hours in a cramped car [cramped because of the copious amounts of STUFF in there] with three boys, 2 of which can't stand being in the same room as each other for more than an hour at a time, it was great fun, just GREAT. And Feathry talking 19 to the dozen about all the STUFF he's seen under the sea for 2 hours. 2 HOURS! I was sure I was going mad. I'm sure I WOULD have gone mad, had Feathry not seemed to cotton on to the fact I was about to lose it and suggest we stopped for a break._

_I needed that break. _

_So yes, eventually we managed to get to Duckberg's camping grounds, and the thing with Duckberg's camping ground is that you can't just drive in and set your stuff up. You have to sign in with the people who run it. So we pulled up and while myself, Gladstone and Feathry started to unpack the stuff, Donald went to sign us in._

"_How long are we staying for again?" Feathry said, pulling stuff out the boot._

"_Must be a month." Gladstone said dryly. "Looking at all the stuff we've got."_

"_Well we better get a move on then hadn't we?" I said, pointedly. _

_I think Gladstone was about to say something back when we heard angry squawking from behind us. All turning we saw Donald – face an interesting shade of red – yelling at a terrified-looking young man behind the counter. "Donald Duck!" He was yelling at this poor lad. "My name is Donald.! Duck!"_

"_I-I'm terribly sorry sir." The young man said, with remarkable politeness. "I really can't understand you at all."_

_Cue Donald's face going positively crimson as he screeched. "I HAVE A BOOKING! DONALD! DUCK!"_

"_Donald!" I said, as we hurried closer to him. "For fuck's sake, what are you playing at!?_

"_I-i-I -!" Donald spluttered before pointing at the young man with such force he nearly took his eye out. "HE'S NOT UNDERSTANDING ME!"_

"_Yes, but you-!"_

"_Hello…Harold." Gladstone said, smoothly to the poor lad. "Gander's the name – Gladstone Gander. We should have a booking in the name of 'Donald Duck.'" He said, enunciating the words clearly and carefully. _

_I thought Donald was going to hit him. As a matter of fact I was so convinced he was gonna hit him, I grabbed Donald's arm and muttered soothing words into his ear, just like I did when we were children._

_So it took fifteen minutes but eventually we got into the field and started to pitch-up camp. _

_Three boys VS 3 tents. You'd never seen anything like it, because they didn't want me to help, they wanted me to get everything ELSE sorted while they did the 'man's' work and put the tents up._

_Feathry was quickly excluded after he managed to hit his wing with the hammer. Twice. Then there were two._

_To be fair, all joking aside, Donald and Gladstone make quite a good team at times, especially when they've got either a common goal OR a particle task to work on together, and this problem covered both quite nicely. So the tents got put up within the hour._

_By then – cos we left late afternoon – it was about eight o clock at night. We were all exhausted, so conversation quickly turned to who was going to sleep where. Or rather – seeing as I was OBVIOUSLY going to be in a tent on my own – which of the two boys would share. Because Feathry – while Donald and Gladstone were trying to insert poles into fabric – said to me._

"_Dells? Do you reckon Donald would mind sharing a tent with Gladstone?"_

_I didn't hesitate. "Of course he would. It's Donald. He prefers him and Gladstone to be on opposite sides of the country if possible. It's amazing I've manged to get them to do this together – why?"_

_He looked sidewards at where the boys where trying to bend the tent into the right shape. "Well…"_

_I understood immediately. "Ah, I see. You want a break from Gladstone for a bit?"_

_Feathy shook his head. "Not so much a BREAK. You see, you know I mentioned a couple of days back that Gladstone was…having nightmares?" I nodded. "WELL, I thought if Donald shared a tent with Gladstone he might be able to see what's going on. After all Donald is much more…forthright than me. Gladdy just brushes me off. And it's partly my fault I know – I let him, but-" Feathry trailed off._

_Now I really did understand. "But Don won't let Gladstone brush him off like that? You're right. If there's one thing that Donald is it's pig-headed, stubborn and determined –"_

"_-Dells, that's three things-"_

"_Della, Feathry – do you want to get some firewood?" Donald called. "Rather than stand there gosspiping?"_

_So we got firewood. _

_Anyway, getting back to the tents. I suggested, as innocently as I could, that Donald and Gladstone share a tent. Donald reacted with horror and swore face-down he wouldn't. Gladstone – not surprisingly annoyed by this – promptly said he didn't WANT to share with Donald anyway and would much rather share with Feathry, who grinned and said, brightly that was fine. However I saw the little look he gave me that said 'help me!'_

_So, about half an hour after that, I took Donald aside and said. "I want you to share a tent with Gladstone."_

_He looked at me like I'd lost my marbles. "But I don't want to share a tent with Gladstone!"_

"_Oh really? You will when I've told you this." And filled him in on what Feathry had told me. "So you see." I said, after I'd recapped it all. "You're the perfect duck to figure out what's going on with him!"_

"_Why can't you!? You get on better with him!"_

_I gave him a look. "Just think through what you said, Don and get back to me."_

_So yeah. They're sharing a tent. Gladstone wasn't happy. "He doesn't even want to share a tent with me!" he complained to me later on. "I know he doesn't. What's the sudden change?"_

_I smiled sweetly at him. "Well, Gladdy. You were always complaining when we were younger you and Donald didn't get enough time together. Now you've got at least eight hours. Just try not to kill each other, okay?" And walked off._

_I could have sworn I heard something that sounded suspiciously like. 'Can't promise' as I left, but never mind._

_So I suppose I better turn in for the night. I have no idea what we're doing tomorrow, but doubtless we'll think of something._


	17. Camping Part 2

**Hey! I'm back, so the plan didn't really come off but here we are again. So this chapter takes place yesterday, basically.**

**But thank you to Steampunk Wilson, MelodySouth65 + KaliAnn for reviewing the last chapter, now let's crack on.**

_26/10/2019_

_Well, I got up to hear Donald and Feathry outside my tent making a LOT of noise._

_So I got out the tent and said. "Are you two imbeciles TRYING to wake the entire campsite!?"_

_The pair of them froze – Feathry holding lots of wood in his hand and Donald doing his best to fry eggs - and looked at me like they'd forgotten I existed. Which to be fair they probably had. It must be taking them time to get used to the fact I'm back here permanently. To be perfectly honest it's taking ME a lot of time to get used to the fact I'm back again. I had a dream last night I was back on the spaceship talking to Penumbra, then I blinked and she'd disappeared. So I ran all over the spaceship trying to find her but I couldn't and I was panicking QUITE badly and I could hear voices in the distance and THEN-_

_I woke up to hear Donald and Feathry talking outside my tent._

_So I established that they were trying [and struggling] to cook eggs. Well, it wasn't so much the cooking of the actual eggs, but getting the fire 'up and running' so to speak, and the wind was blowing a bit so it was trying to go out. _

"_Can't you just get Gladstone to stand next to it or something?" I said, tummy rumbling. _

_The boys looked at each other. "He's asleep." Donald said, gruffly. _

_There was a beat. Then I said. "Well, I gathered he wasn't up frolicking through fields. Do you want me to wake him u-"_

"_No!" Donald and Feathry said together. _

_I gave them a look and Donald said. "He…didn't go to sleep till late."_

_I don't like it when people beat about the bush. So I gave him a look and said. "Are you trying to tell me he had a nightmare, Don?"_

"…_Yes." Don admitted. "When he finally got to sleep that is. He was up for ages TALKING. About EVERYTHING. Some of it was quite nice. Some of it was just plain rubbish. About midnight I threatened him with death if he didn't go to sleep and that got the message through." He took a deep breath, then carried on with: "THEN about…I dunno, two? Three hours later? He had a nightmare. Quite bad. Hitting out and everything. So I woke him up and asked him what was wrong. He tried to brush me off, I pressed him for details…but-" Another breath. "I could see…he wasn't in the right frame of mind to answer them. So I just got him back to sleep – don't ask how – and yeah. He's still asleep now, so I think we should just leave him because from what Feathery says he's not been getting much sleep lately so…yeah."_

_So we left him. We didn't really do much in the morning, mainly because we didn't want Gladstone to worry if he woke up and we weren't there. Feathry suggested he could stay behind if me and Don wanted to go fishing, but STRAGELY ENOUGH myself and Don weren't really enamoured with that idea. Visions of the campsite going up in flames and all that. So we hung round the campsite and amused ourselves by recounting stories of our childhood and discussing various members of our extended family. _

_About 1 o clock [bearing in mind I dragged myself up at 10] Gladstone emerged from his tent, yawning and rubbing his eyes. "Morning." He said._

"_Afternoon." Donald said pointedly. _

_Gladstone blinked. "Is it afternoon?"_

"_It is. Do you want some eggs?"_

"_Sure, that'd be nice."_

_Donald smirked. "Fire's there." He said, indicating the charred remains. "Eggs in that bag." He pointed. "Knock yourself out."_

_Gladstone frowned but dutifully went ferreting for the eggs. _

_I said to Donald. "That was a bit mean."_

_Donald brushed me off. "He's 35, Dells. I think he can manage-"_

"_-YOU struggled with the fire-"_

_Donald opened his mouth but then there was crackle of flames and we turned round to see Gladstone standing next to the suddenly-alight fire, holding some eggs under his arm, looking surprised._

_Feathry was there, eyes wide, smile spreading wide across his face. "That. Was. Awsome!"_

"_What happened!?" Me and Donald squawked, together._

"_He just stood next to it, though a couple of sticks on it and the ENTIRE thing leapt into flames!" Feathry said, excitedly. "It was awesome, it was like 'woosh!'" He said, shooting his arms in the air, dramatically. "And just LEAPT into flames, oh, it was so cool – oh, I wish I could do that Gladdy!"_

_Gladstone stood there, looking at the fire in bemusement. Then he shook his head and the cocky look came back into his eye. "Well. It takes practice, but yeah. What can I say? I'm awesome."_

_Donald sat down on a log and muttered uncomplimentary things about our cousin in green that Gladstone must have been able to hear, but ignored. _

_About half an hour after that Donald, having heard enough of both Gladstone and Feathry talking 19 to the dozen, picked up his fishing rod and said, as if it wasn't obvious enough. "I'm going fishing."_

"_Great!" Feathry said, brightly. "We'll come with you!"_

_Donald paused and spluttered a bit, but didn't want to say flat out 'I don't want you with me' so reluctantly said we can come. _

_When we got to the river that runs through a forest that's about five minutes walk from the campsite Donald put his rod and bait down and said, to Gladstone and Feathry. "You two go up there-" He waved his hand a bit. "Me and Dells will stay down here."_

_Feathry looked confused and Gladstone folded his arms. "And why can't we all fish together?" He asked._

_Donald squawked a bit and spluyttered. "Cos, cos, cos – we can't all fish in the same place! The fish'll get wise to it!"_

_Feathry looked confused. "I don't think fish are that smart Don." He said. "Dolphins maybe…"_

"_Feathers." Gladstone cut in. "Let's just go. I can tell when we're not WANTED."_

"_I – But you – you – agh! Just go!" _

"_We're going." Gladstone shot back. "C'mon, Feathers." And he dragged Feathry off, beak in the air. Feathry looked back at us, looking hurt and confused._

_I waited till they'd gone a little further then smacked my twin on the shoulder. "What's wrong with you!?"_

"_I need a break!" He snapped at me. "I've been up with Gladstone ALL NIGHT! Cut me some slack!"_

_I stomped my foot. "Fine! I will." And picked up my rod and followed my cousins._

_The pair of them had moved about five minutes walk away and were in the process of attaching bait to the rods. "Look who it is!" Gladstone said seeing me. "You joining us as well, Dells-Bells?"_

"_Uh-huh." I said, sitting next to them. "Don wants peace and quiet, he's gonna GET peace and quiet."_

"_I don't want peace and quiet." Don said, from behind me. We all turned and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Can I join you?" He asked. "It's to quiet down there."_

"_Sure!" Feathry said, cheerfully, moving up. "You can sit next to me!"_

_Donald hesitated and looked at me. I sighed. "Sit down lame-oh, before the fish cotton on."_

_He cracked a smile and sat down in between Feathry and Gladstone. They didn't say anything to each other, but kind of nodded at each other._

_So we fished. We did quite well. Gladstone did better than us, of course, and quickly ended up with a nice little pile of fish behind him. "Well." He laughed. "I think we've got dinner, breakfast and lunch sorted!"_

_Donald, who was having considerably less luck, muttered under his breath. "Show off…" _

_Feathry was being a much better sport about not catching anything, content to just enjoy our company. He spent the whole time walking about various different types of fish. _

_I must admit I was sharing Donald's annoyance. I mean, there's clearly fish IN the river, they just don't want to be anywhere near US. _

_I squawked in annoyance and stood up in order to pear into the river. _

"_What are you doing Dells?" Feathry asked, curiously._

"_I want to see." I said. "If there ARE actually any fish in this river or if Gladstone's just attaching them surreptitiously to his hook!"_

_Gladstone gave a cheerful laugh that rubbed me up the wrong way and said. "Just lucky, Dells-Bells!"_

"_Don't call me that." I said, but quietly enough so no one else could hear me. I meant to yell it at him, but the words died in my throat. He can't help it. Anymore than myself and Don can help being UN-lucky. And you know, it's swings and roundabouts. At least our parents didn't die when we were 7. At least we were taken in by a family member IN America and not shipped of to Scotland to live with an Uncle and Aunt we didn't really know who had three children all significantly older than we were. _

_At least we didn't have that. So I gritted my teeth and just focused on trying to CATCH SOMETHING!_

_So half an hour later we're walking back to the campsite with twenty fish, all of which Gladstone had caught, with him still talking. "Wow! That was some luck, huh guys?"_

"_Yeah!" Feathry said, as Donald and myself grunted. "AND they're decent sizes! Let's have those two for tea tonight!" He said, nodding his heads towards the two big fish Don was carrying in his right wing. _

"_Sure thing, whattya think Don?"_

"_Whatever." Don spat and I saw Gladstone wrinkle his beak a little bit. _

_Determined to avoid an argument I asked Feathry if he could remember a little about how to cook fish on a open fire from his J.W.G days. Turns out he could remember a lot and he gave us a in-depth explanation that lasted 45 minutes._

_45 minutes!_

_So, long story short we cooked the fish, eat the fish and sang songs round the campfire at Feathry's urging. There was still some tension so Feathry, optimistic as always, suggested Gladstone sing us a song._

_I brightened up at that. I like Gladstone's voice. He's got a good voice. He looked slightly surprised and muttered something about how he hasn't sang for YEARS and he doesn't even know any campfire songs, so that wasn't going to work._

_To which Feathry said he didn't HAVE to sing a campfire song, he could sing any song, the fact he would be singing it round a campfire therefore MADE it a campfire song. So Gladstone cleared his throat and said – surprisingly shyly – that, if it was alright with us – he'd sing the song 'You are my sunshine' by Willie Nelson. _

_I think Don was GOING to scoff, till Gladstone mentioned that Ludwig used to sing it a lot. Instantly he shut up and just nodded. So Gladstone sang, and we listened, and me and Feathry ended up crying. An although Don didn't actually CRY – he's far to 'tough' for that – I saw him wiping tears from his eyes when he thought no one was looking._

_So yeah, not a bad day. NOT a bad day. _


	18. Camping Part 3

**Hey! I'm back, thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, it means a lot.**

**So. The final chapter of the camping trilogy. We're nearly out the woods now [both literally and figurately] so let's crack on and see what the Duck's are up to this morning…**

**See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on. **

_27/10/2019_

_We're back home! Yes! I must admit, as fun as this little camping trip has been I am VERY pleased to see the boys again._

_I'm glad we made it back in one piece. I mean, if it was stressful getting THERE it was even more stressful getting BACK. Cos basically as Donald and Gladstone put UP the tents it was decided me and Feathry would take them down again._

_Donald and Gladstone hovered round a bit, saying 'helpful' things like. "Are you sure you'll be alright with that, guys?"_

"_We'll be fine." I said, in annoyance. "Just…go do something ELSE would you?"_

"_Like what?" Gladstone asked, and I tell you diary a lot of suggestions came to mind that I can't put down in writing. _

_Seeing my look, and having one of those weird moments when he reads my mind, Donald said. "C'mon Gladstone. Let's go fishing."_

_Gladstone looked surprised. "What? With me?"_

_Donald gave him A LOOK and said, sarcastically. "No. With the invisible man you're standing next to. YES, you, you idiot! C'mon!" And with that he picked up the fishing rods and marched off. _

_Gladstone watched him go, turned round, gave us a thumbs up and scurried after him. _

_I couldn't help laughing as I said to Feathry. "Why's he so annoying one moment and so…not the next?"_

_Feathry looked confused. "Are we talking about Donald or Gladstone?"_

"_Gladstone of course!"_

_Feathry shrugged. "I dunno. It's probably some sort of defence mechanism."_

_I must admit I'm still not sure about what he meant. I did try and get it out of him, but he remained strangely close-beaked. So wet set about taking the tents down and had just finished mine and Feathry's when we heard a commotion coming from over the river area and I had a strange feeling like my chest had suddenly become tighter and I felt suddenly dizzy and to top it all I could hear Feathry going._

"_Are you okay Dells!? Dells!? Della!?"_

_After a few seconds the feeling passed and I stood up, swaying a little bit. "The…river…"_

_Feathry's looking at me like I lost my marbles. "What?"_

_I was already staggering off. "We've gotta get to the river!" I called back, and I as I was feeling better by the second I soon went from toddling, to walking, to running, with Feathry behind me going._

"_Della, Slow down!"_

"_Feathry, keep up!" I shot back before skidding to a halt. Cos Gladstone was kneeling over Donald who was lying on the floor, both soaking wet and out of breath._

"_Whoa!" That wasn't me that was Feathry, who looked both horrified and excited at the same time. "What happened!?"_

"_Genius…here…" Gladstone breathed jerking a thumb at Donald, who was still lying on his back on the grass. "Decided to go swimming while not properly AWAKE!"_

"_It…was not…a decision…it was…sleepwalking-"_

"_Whatever it was!" Gladstone snapped. "You nearly died, Donald Duck!"_

"_Hold on a minute!" Feathry said, in a truly BLIND moment. "Who saved him then?"_

_Cue us all giving him a LOOK. _

"_Can I just draw your attention, Feathry?" Gladstone said, with expert snarkiness. "To the SMALL fact that I am WET?"_

_I was touched. "You jumped in the river after him?"_

"_Of course!" Gladstone said, clearly genuially chocked we would think anything otherwise. "He's my cousin! Plus I'm used to this kind of thing-"_

"_You go jumping into rivers often, do you?" I said, teasingly. "A hobby for you is it?"_

_Gladstone gave me a half-hearted smile – probably cos he was still out of breath – and said. "Well, actually Dells-" He sat up gingerly. "-You laugh but, cos of my luck, I'm ACTUALLY in the position of saving people a lot more than you might think. It's quite ridiculous actually."_

_At that point Donald let out a loud groan and I hurried over to him and knelt down next to him. "How are you feeling?" Which has GOT to be one of the top ten stupidest questions I've ever asked in my lifetime. I mean, he's just nearly drowned, he's hardly going to be sunshine and roses is he?_

_Sure enough he, through heavy breathing, told me to f-off and attemoted to role over, probbay thinking he was still in bed._

_Thankfully Gladstone was on the ball and stuck his arm out in order to stop him. "Whoa! Steady on Don-Tron, I don't plan on saving you again for a long time."_

"…_Shut up, Gladstone." Donald said, eyes still closed._

_Gladstone rolled his eyes. "Is that thank you Gladstone for saving my life? Yes Donald, it was a pleasure. As I said, I don't plan on doing it again for a long time, so please try to AVOID sleepwalking near rivers for a little while-" _

"_Gladstone." I interrupted. "Can you help fetahry with the tents, please? I want to make sure Donald's alright."_

_Gladstone's eyes softened and he nodded before getting up – with some effort – and heading of towards the campsite, Feathry scurrying behind him talking 19 to the dozen as per usual._

_I looked down at Donald. "He's gone. Do you need help to sit up?"_

_Donald nodded and I helped him sit up and then get to his feet. He wobbled unsteadily and I put my wing round his back to support him. I manged to get him down the hill again and then - with Feathry's help - to the car. _

_Gladstone by then had finished stacking the things in the car. "Are we alright to go?" He asked. _

_I nodded. "Yes, I think we'd better."_

_Feathry turned to Don, who had his head against the window, resting on the glass and said, loudly. "What do you think about that, Donny?"_

_Donald screwed his eyes up. "Shut up, Feathry." He said abruptly. _

_Feathry looked hurt and I quickly assured him. "It's just cos he's got a headache. Here – have some water." I said to my twin, who brushed me off quickly and with a low squawk._

"_Haven't you got some headache tablets, Feathry?" Gladstone said from behind the wheel. _

"_Oh yes…" Feathry picked up his back-pack and started rummaging though it. "Well. They're migraine tablets actually but-"_

"_No." I said, immediately. "We'll get him some painkiller when we get back."_

_Donald let out a low groan and Gladstone said. "We can't wait that long…Feathry do me and favour and look in the glovebox, will you?"_

"_I don't think they'll be anything in there." He said, rummaging through the glovebox. "No…no, there's nothing in here-"_

"_-Leave it open!" Gladstone said, with thinly-veiled annoyance before reaching over with one hand and rummaging through the glove-box himself._

"_I'm telling you there's nothi-" Feathery trailed off when Gladstone's hand came back out clutching a small packet of painkillers. _

_Gladstone gave him a look and passed the tablets back to me. "Here." He said. "Shove these down his throat."_

_So I promptly did so, and within fifteen minutes Donald's headache had gone. So happiness all around. _

_So, yes, as I said I was VERY pleased to be in the house again. And the boys where happy to see me as well. Huey was very keen to tell me all about his J.W.G. meeting – which Scrooge managed to get him to on time – and Dewey and Louie had managed to entertain themselves as well by the sounds of it. They presented us with a cake that they had apparently made themselves [though I suspect it was with Beakley's help] which we all happily had a slice off. Oh yes, that was the other thing, Gladstone and Feathry stayed for tea, at Beakley's insistence, much to Scrooge's displeasure. He took it in turns to glare at each off them at various point throughout the meal._

_I did notice that while Huey and Dewey happily talked with Feathry, whenever Gladstone tried to engage Louie in conversation eh would brush him off. Eventually Gladstone took the hint and talked to Webby for a little bit. They got on quite well actually, surprisingly. _

_So yes, not a bad trip by all accounts. Definitely one for the books. _


	19. Della and the Barney

**Hey! I'm back, thank you to Guest, KaliAnn + Steampunk Wilson for reviewing the last chapter.**

**Steampunk Wilson, your question is a good one. We'll have to see. **

**Now. A couple of point about this chapter. Number 1 – there IS swearing.**

**Louie might also be slightly OCC, but I'm hoping it'll be understandable why he's acting like this, when you take into account the Canon experiences he's had.**

**ALSO another thing. It's a bit cheeky of me, I know, but this is my first time writing this kind of chapter for Ducktales. Therefore if anyone's got any tips on what worked well and what didn't I'll be very glad to hear them. If you want to PM them to me rather than review, that's fine as well. It's to help my development as a writer.**

**Thank you and with no further ado let's crack on. **

_28/10/2019_

_AAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHH! Why, why, WHY must children be so annoying!? _

_I've just had a bit of a barney with Louie. Basically I have sensed, for quite some time now, that he's being a bit 'off' about the whole 'me being back' thing. It was great at start but recently he's kinda withdrawn. And I know Donald basically said to leave it a couple of weeks back, but – no wait. Sorry, I;ve just remembered. He said I should have a conversation with him. With them actually, all of them in one room. Which is easier said than done, because – And I think I've mentioned this before – HOW do you start this kinda conversation!? I don't know! No one knows and as no one else except me can do it I'm in the position of banging my head against the wall and going:_

_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_

…_But I think I'm getting slightly ahead of myself here. Let's start at the beginning. So the last time I wrote in this thing we'd just had a lovely family meal aside from the SMALL fact that Louie wouldn't talk to Gladstone for some reason which I couldn't work out. I mean, it seems to me like they'd get on. They're very similar. They're both natural slackers. [it has to be said] They're both naturally lucky [although Gladstone's luck far exceeds Louie's of course] and they both have this kind of WALL built up around them. And they both wear green. I mean – how many more things do you need? _

_So, yeah, I was a bit puzzled – to say the least – about WHY there seemed to be so much animosity between them. So I asked Donald, who sighed and said. "I don't know, Dells. They got on great for so many years. Then something happened during the whole 'Vampire' thing – don't ask me what I don't know – and Louie clams up whenever I ask him-"_

"_-Have you asked Gladstone?" I asked, impatiently._

_Donald held his hands up. "I tried! He just says he 'can't really remember' what happened during that whole period – and I believe him, by the way – on that point at least. I tried asking him a couple of questions about stuff that I KNOW for a FACT happened – and he can't remember. Like, seriously can't remember."_

_I was pretty concerned at this to say the least. "What state was he IN when you guys found him!?"_

"_That's the thing!" Donald said, sounding completely bewildered. "He was fine! Honest to god, Dells – cross my heart – he. Was. Fine. He was joking, talking nicely to the kids, generally being insufferable. We wouldn't even had KNOWN unless the chain hadn't appeared round his ankle while we were attempting to leave-"_

"_A chain!?"_

"_Are you going to carry on interrupting me!? Yes, a chain! And then a bunch of other stuff happened that I don't REALLY want to get into now, and we managed to save him. But, I'm TELLING you -seriously - Della, he seemed FINE then! I wouldn't have left him on his own if he didn't seem fine."_

_This I believed._

"_So what." I said, slowly. "Sometime between then – when was this by the way?"_

"_Er…" Donald said, his voice going high-pitched. "…October…2017?"_

_There was a beat. Then I said. "…What? Two years ago! Are you KIDDING me?" We went back and forth in this vein for a little bit, until eventually Donald snapped. _

"_I don't know why you're getting on at me! Ask Louie! He's the one who KNOWS!"_

_So, still in a state of annoyance – which I will admit probably wasn't a good idea – I went to Louie's room and knocked on the door. He opened it, a can of pop casually in one hand – and said, in surprise. "Oh. Hey mum. You alright?"_

"_Fine! Fine. Can I have a quick word with you, please, Lou?"_

"_Don't call me that." He said, in a dead-pan fashion, but opened the door and allowed me in._

"_I want to speak about Cousin Gladstone-" I began, once he'd shut the door. _

"_Why?" Louie said, quickly, his fingers balling to make a fist._

_His attitude rubbed me up the wrong way immediately. But, as everyone keeps telling me, I AM the mother. So I took a small breath and said, as levelly as I could. "Because I couldn't help noticing that he was trying to talk to a couple of days back and you weren't replying." _

"_He doesn't deserve to have me replying!" Louie burst out, and I was both shocked and a little lost. However my mothers voice chose THAT moment to come floating back to me, and I found myself unconsciously echoing her words from many MANY years ago._

"_Everyone deserved politeness, Louie." I said, firmly. "You can't go through life ignoring people when they're trying to speak to you."_

"_But he can-!" Louie began, then took a sharp breath and said, sullenly. "Never mind."_

_By now my mom senses were tingling and I said, gently. "No, I mind. What's he done?" No reply. Louie just kept looking at the floor like it was going to turn into a portal. I tried again. "Look, I KNOW he can be a bit annoying at times-" Louie scoffed. "-BUT he's family-"_

"_Family!" Louie burst out, throwing his wings in the air. "Family, family, family! Both you and Uncle Donald are the same, you both go on and ON about family! I KNOW we're family, that doesn't mean I have to LIKE him!"_

_I briefly had a memory of Donald, when we were round about the age of sixteen, fairly soon after Gladstone had come back to America for good, saying pretty much EXACTLY the same thing in pretty much EXACTLY the same manner. _

_So I said to Louie what I vaguely remember saying to my twin, which was: "You don't have to like him, but you do have to tolerate him. We're family, we NEED each other-!"_

_At which point my youngest son went full-on volcano. "I don't NEED him!" He screamed, causing me to flinch. "He's stupid! He's mean! He's the worst! I HATE HIM! –"_

"_Llewellyn Duck!" My twin yelled from the doorway. "How DARE you talk to your mother like that!?"_

_Louie stopped dead and his beak opened and shut resembling a goldfish. _

_Donald glared daggers at him and demanded. "Well!?"_

"_S-sh-she started it! She comes into MY room and – and – starts talking about GLADSTONE who's basically a WORTHLESS, HORRIBLE piece of SHIT-!"_

"_LLEWELLYN DUCK!" Donald bellowed. "How DARE you speak about your uncle like that!"_

_Louie's beak opened and closed. "But – but – you! You do it all the time! Remember? You AND Scrooge you both called him 'the worse'! You both barely tolerate him! You BOTH HATE him!"_

_There was a beat. Then Donald said, steadily. "Llewellyn. I DO NOT hate your uncle. I'm sorry if that's the impression I've given over the years, but it's NOT true. We…" Donald trailed of, clearly thinking exactly HOW he was going to phrase the next bit. "We…are opposites." Was what he finally decided on. "Extreme opposites. Very, very extreme opposites. BUT we love each other. He's my cousin at the end of the day. And though he DOES MY ABSOLUTE HEAD IN…at times. I love him."_

"_But does he love you?" Louie pressed. _

"_Of course he does!"_

"_I bet you he doesn't. I bet he wouldn't even care if you, like, DIED-"_

"_Oi!" Donald barked and Louie flinched a bit and resumed staring at the floor. "He WOULD care if I died. I know he would. As a matter of fact he saved my life at the weekend."_

_Louie blinked. "Did he?"_

_Donald nodded. "He did. I went sleepwalking…again. Except this time I…I was near a river. And I sleepwalked into it. And it was your uncle who risked his own life to jump in after me and save me. I would have drowned if not for him. So YES, he's a pain, YES, we exchange insults but it's all in good humour – for the most part and it's just how we work. SO-" Donald knelt down and put his hand under Louie's chin, gently lifting his head up so my youngest son was forced to look at him. "-I don't EVER want to hear you talking about your uncle like that again – you understand? Or yelling at your mother like that again. Got it?" Louie nodded. "Good. Now give me a hug."_

_They hugged. It was very cute. Then – without being asked – Louie turned and hugged me. That was lovely. I felt happy. Louie doesn't hug people that often really - It's Dewey who hugs quite frequently – so when you DO get a hug of him you do feel rather like you've earned it. _

_So yeah. That was my barney today. Now I'm writing it down I can see although it was AWFUL at the time to be screamed at by my own son, it could have been a lot worse. At least we made up, you know. _

_Sorry. I can't go on this vein for much longer. Brings back memory's you know. SO the good news is we're going to the Ice Caves in three days time. We're all frantically packing. Gloves, hats, scarfs, coats everything you can think off, it's in their. Ski's, ice-picks, chisels. You name it – we have it. So yeah, I'm looking forward to going. It'll be fun. I hope. A little nervous, but no, what am I saying? I'm Della Duck! Queen of Adventure! There's nothing I can't do! Leg or no leg I will GET that shield if it kills me!_

_IF IT KILLS ME!_


	20. Ice Caves Part 1

**Hey! I'm back, thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter as well as tontheoffbalence for replying to my question from last chapter. I'll try to work on the notes you mentioned, as well as Della's [and Donald's] PTSD. **

**See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on.**

_01/11/2019_

_We made it! We're in Spoonerville! I'm so happy! And we're like THIS close to adventuring again, a nice family adventure [with Goofy and Max as well], it'll be great. _

_Although I suppose I better mention this afternoon. Cos we were in the middle of shoving suitcases in boots and the like when Huey looks round and goes: "Where's Webby's case?"_

_We all looked round but couldn't see it. "In her room, I bet." Louie said. He was sitting on his own suitcase, phone in hand, looking at it intently._

"_I'll grab her." Dewey said, turning to go._

_I frowned. "Where is she anyway?" I asked, noticing the drive was Webby-less. _

"_Saying bye to Beakley."_

"_Oh!" I said. "Well, if she's saying goodbye to Miss Beakley then I'LL go and get her case. Her room's first on the right, right?" So off I went to go and get Webby's case. A simple enough task, except to actually get her case I had to go into her room. _

_So I went in and what was the first thing I saw? Her. Long white hair, wide eyes that seemed to switch between being angry, sad and just lost…_

_I stared at her and she stared back. And…it's SO hard to describe but I literally wasn't aware of anything that was going on. It was me and her together forever among the lost stars of space. I just stared and stared at her and she looked back at me. I could see curiosity in her eyes, like she'd forgotten what Ducks looked like. [Which to be fair she probably had. It was a long time since she'd seen anyone] _

_I stepped forwards and raised my wing. She copied me. I blinked and took a step towards her. She did the same. I laughed and she did the same. We both laughed and laughed together. It felt good. I was suddenly aware of how LONG it had been since I'd laughed. _

"_Della." I could vaguely hear a voice and I shook my head a little as I carried on looking at her. _

"_Della." Donald's voice said, more firmly this time. "Della, it's me."_

"…_Donald." I remember saying, faintly._

"_That's right – Donald. Shall we go downstairs? Everyone's waiting to get going. The kids are already in the car. As is Scrooge-"_

"_-Uncle Scrooge-"_

"_-That's right, Uncle Scrooge. C'mon, Dells. I'm sure you don't want to stay here forever, do you?"_

"…_D-donald, she's there." I said, still looking at her. _

"_Della." Donald said, gently. "You're on earth. You're not on the moon anymore. You're back home in McDuck Manor and we're just about to go to Spoonerville to see Goofy. You remember Goofy don't you?"_

"_And Max."_

"_And Max!" Donald sounded pleased. "Yes, and we're going to find the Shield Of Archilles. It'll be just like old times. A PROPER family adventure."_

"_You hate adventures." I said. I was still looking at her, but her eyes didn't seem so intense anymore. _

_He laughed. "Okay, you've got me there. But you love them, and therefore we're going. C'mon, Dells, let's leave her behind, shall we?"_

_It took a bit more coaxing, but eventually I felt strong enough to walk again and – with Donald's help – managed to get downstairs where Beakley was looking concerned with a tea-flask in one hand. "Here." She said, briskly, pressing it on me. "This'll help."_

_Now, I don't really LIKE tea as a general rule. But I took it – which gives an idea of how dis-orientated I was – and took a sip of it. It tasted quite nice actually and did a good job of bringing me back to my senses completely. It was very sweet. I think Auntie Beakley must have emptied half a cup of sugar into it. _

_She waited patiently till I'd finished, then took the flask of me with a: "There we go. I'm willing to bet you feel better, don't you?" I nodded and she smiled. "I thought so. Now-" She gave me a quick hug that took me somewhat by surprise. Beakley's never really been one for physical contact, even with close family members. "-Have a good time, look after yourself – and Webbigail of course – and try not to OVER-EXERT yourselves."_

_God knows how she thinks we're NOT going to 'over-exert ourselves' prancing round bloody Ice Caves but getting the sentiment I nodded._

_And then we set off. Thankfully it's not far to Spoonerville. Between 45 minutes to an hour, as Huey kept telling us. After the third time Dewey said, with clear irritation._

"_Yeah, Huey we get it! You don't have to keep reminding us every two seconds!"_

_Huey glared at his immediate younger brother before sulkily putting the JWG down and staring out the window._

"_Well done, Doofus." Louie said, monotonously. "Now he'll be in mood with us for the rest of forever."_

"_Whatever!" Dewey snapped, sinking down further into his seat while pouting and folding his arms. I had a sudden though of 'Oh! He looks so cute! I wonder of this is what he looked like when he was five.'_

_So I muttered to Donald. "Is this what he was like when he was five?"_

"_Dewey?" My twin said. He looked into the rear-view mirror and nodded. "Ooooh yes. OH, yes. We've had many moments like that over the years. Usually when he wanted something I either couldn't or – more likely – wouldn't give him. Shopping Malls where the funnest." He cast his eyes to the heavens. "EVERY shop we walked past – 'can I have that, Uncle Donald? Can I, can i?'" He said in a high-pitch voice that made me – and Scrooge – laugh._

_Cue the kids. "What?" Webby said, curiously. _

"_Yeah, what are you guys laughing about?" Dewey asked, arms still folded._

"_I'm just telling your mother a bit about what you were like when you were kids." Donald told them. _

_That got the kids animated. Even Huey snapped out of his little funk to ask. "Did you tell her about the Junior Woodchucks? How we joined?"_

"_You joined because you three were driving me crazy." Donald said, rolling his eyes._

"_We did not!" Dewey argued._

"_You did so." Donald said, fondly. "You were five-year olds, full of energy. You never stood still! I'm surprised you three didn't turn my feathers grey!"_

"_But when we joined." Huey said, insistently. "The scoutmaster said I was good straight away didn't he? Didn't he?"_

"_He said you seemed bright for your age, yes." _

"_What did he say about ma and Louie?" Dewey seemed animated now. _

"_He said…" Donald seemed to need a few seconds to think. "…He SAID, that you, Dewey, were very…enthusiastic about everything and you, Louie, would be a good Junior Woodchuck if you applied yourself more."_

"_Story of my life." Louie said, completely deadpan._

"_That's not a good thing, Louie." Donald said, sternly. "And it's true, I mean-" Cue ten-minute rant about what Louie could do if he applied himself more. I must admit I felt slightly uncomfortable, mainly because I remember my mother saying a lot of the same stuff to me._

"_Donald." I said, quietly to him once the kids had re-summed doing there own things. "You DO realise you're turning into Mom, right?"_

_Donald looked confused. "Don't you mean dad?"_

"_Hhhmm – no."_

_Scrooge laughed at that and re-counted some stories of our mother when she was younger. They were wuite interesting actually – especially the one when she apparently kicked a cheating boyfriend [not my dad] in the nads. And she was like 16._

"_Didn't you kick an ex-boyfriend in the balls round about that age?" Donald asked, casually, clearly forgetting there were four kids [and Scrooge] in the car._

"_What!?" Webby said, sounding worryingly eager. "You kicked a boyfriends in the balls!?"_

"_EX-boyfriend." I stressed. "And I only did it cos he had the AUDACIENCY to turn up at Mouseville's Nightclub with another girl!"_

_The kids all 'oooohhheeddd' and I added. "One week after we'd split up!"_

"_Maybe we'd better change the subject." Donald said._

_Ten minutes later we were in Spoonerville and the kids became excited. "I can't wait to see Mr Goof!" Webby said, practically bouncing up and down in her seat. "I can ask him ALL about what Donald was like when he was younger!"_

_I burst out laughing and Donald said. "Please don't."_

"_Why not?"_

_Now, I know why not. It's not that Goofy wouldn't answer the questions, it's the complete opposite actually. He'd be to eager AND to honest. Donald would never be able to look anyone in the face ever again. Like ever. _

"_We're here!" Donald said, as Goofy's house came into view. The kids cheered and Scrooge muttered something that sounded like 'Let's get this done with' under his breath. _

_The kids pretty much ran out the car and hammered on the door. _

"_Kids! Slow down!" Donald yelled. _

_But the kids were to wired up to listen to him and instead jumped round the door like the decking was on fire or something. Then the door opened and I heard._

"_Hy-uck! Hello boys!"_

"_Uncle Goofy!" The boys cheered and literally leapt at him._

"_Hello boys!" He laughed, hugging them back. "Gawsh – you're bigger than the last time I saw you."_

"_Well – yeah!" Dewey said, laughing. "The last time you saw us we were 9!"_

"_And now you're – now, don't tell me, I can work it out…er…9 + 2 carry the 1 divide by thirteen…" The boys were still laughing as Goofy mimed adding up on his fingers. "Now, let's see…er, you boys have to be 12!"_

"_That's right!" The boys said together, then looked at each other clearly slightly weirded out. _

"_12! I can't believe it...seems like yesterday you were fluffy ducklings. Now…who's this little lady here?" Goofy knelt down to Webby's level and gave her a friendly grin. _

"_Webby." Webby said, going suddenly shy. _

"_Webby! What a lovely name. Now…are you Auntie Beakley's grand-daughter?"_

_Quick note here. Mickey, Goofy and all the rest all call Mrs Beakley 'Auntie Beakley' same as we do. _

_So Webby said she was and Goofy laughed and told her she looked just like her, then he straightened up and waved energetically to Donald who was struggling up the path with all the kids over-night bags. "Hiya Donald! You need a hand there?"_

"_I can manage." Donald said, though gritted teeth. _

"_Are you sure?"_

"_I SAID I can-wak!" With fantastic timing the strap of Huey's bag got wrapped round Donald's leg and he tripped forward and smacked beak-first onto the path. _

_Goofy hurried forward and helped me help Donald up. "You alright Donald?"_

_Donald spat out a random tooth and snapped. "Fine!"_

_We helped Donald into the kitchen where the kids had already run in and were currently rummaging though variance parts of Goofy's kitchen. I was horrified, but thankfully I didn't have to say anything because Scrooge was already on the case. _

"_What do you kids think you're doing!?" He squawked. Four different answers._

"_Looking for an ice pack for Uncle Donald." [Huey – with his head in the freezer]_

"_Thirsty." [Louie – with his hand in the fridge]_

"_Hungry" [Dewey – rummaging through cupboards]_

"_Just standing." [Webby – standing in the middle of the room]_

"_Get out the cupboards!" Scrooge snapped. _

"_Aw, it's alright Mr McD!" Goofy said. [Cue Scrooges eye twitching] "Ice packs are third one down, Huey. Glasses are in THAT cupboard Louie and, hey – would anyone like a sandamachich?"_

_As we were all starving by that time we said yes and Goofy laughed again, before rummaging through cupboard to put us together a snack. Once he'd served us all he stood there with one sandwich left over and, bemused, counted all us slowly. Then his eyes lit up and he went to the door._

"_Oh Maxie!" He hollered up the stairs. "Maxie!"_

_A faint 'what?' came from somewhere above us._

"_Uncle Donald's here! And the boys! And I made you a sandmachich!"_

"_C'min."_

_Thirty seconds later Max appeared in the doorway. Now, I can vaguely remember Max from before I left. Obviously he's changed a lot. A lot taller, slightly less buck-tooth. Still messy-haired though and still got blue eyes. Other than that he's exactly the same._

_He hugged Donald and high-fived the boys and Webby. He nodded at Scrooge, who nodded back, and then lay a pair of confused eyes on me. "…You look strangely familiar…" Was the first thing he said. _

_A lump appeared in my throat. He remembered me! I couldn't believe it! I went to talk, but just made this really strange gasping sound instead, which made Max look at me like I'd lost my marbles._

"_This is our mother." Dewey said, proudly. "Della Duck!"_

"_My twin sister." Donald added, for clarification. _

_Max nodded and looked at me, clearly waiting for me to say something. I just couldn't speak. Honestly I was opening my beak like a flippin goldfish. _

"_We all went to school together!" Goofy said, ruffling Max's hair._

_Max dodged him and said. "Really? Cool. So what are you all doing here? Not that it's not great to see you and everything, but…"_

"_We're going to find the Shield of Archilles!" Huey said, enthusiastically, pulling the JWG out from under his hat. He then quickly brought the Goof's up to date with the legend and the whole reason we were here._

"_You know…" Goofy said, thoughfully. "I think I have a voucher for that. Groups of over five get in for free."_

_Scrooges eyes lit up. "I, eh, doon't supoose you know where it is, laddy?"_

_Goofy nodded and leapt up. "Sure! I think it's in the other room - one minute!" And he darted from the room, leaving us with Max, who – realising the was the sole host now – cleared his throat and said. "So…long journey?"_

"_58 minutes!" Huey said, promptly._

_There was another silence while Max tried desperately to think of something else to ask us. It was then I remembered what it was I was trying to say 15 minutes ago, and I said._

"_I used to babysit you!"_

_Cue everyone staring at me and Donald face-palming._

"_Really?" Max looked at me. "I don't remember."_

"_Well, you wouldn't you were five-"_

"_I got it!" Goofy exclaimed, running in with a slightly-torn voucher. "It was under the marble clock." He added, proudly. _

_Max looked like he wanted to sink though the floor as Scrooge took the voucher and carefully examined it. "Still valid." He said, in approval. "Well done, lad."_

"_Ooh boy!" Goofy slapped Max on the back and said. "We're going adventuring!"_

"_What?" Scrooge said, sharply, looking up._

"_Dad, they haven't invited us-" Max told the table._

"_Of course you can come." Donald said, eagerly. _

_Scrooge gave him a betrayed look and Donald said, reasonably. "C'mon, Uncle Scrooge, if we're using Goofy's voucher it's only fair he – and Max - should come with us, if they want."_

_The kids all cheered and Scrooge – being smart enough to admit defeat – said they could come. "But we're going at 8:30 in the morning." He warned them. _

_Goofy looked confused. "Why?" He asked. "They don't open till ten."_

_I started to laugh and quickly turned it into a cough under Scrooges glare. "We'll go at 9:30 then." He said, steely. "Now." He drew himself up. "I don't know about you lot. But I am going to bed. We've got an early start tomorrow."_

_So we took the hint and headed to bed. I was a little disappointed we didn't get to talk to Goofy more, but plenty of time for that I suppose. We're not exactly on a tight time-schedule. _

_Night night diary!_


	21. Ice Caves Part 2

_**Hey! I'm back, thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter, it means a lot. **_

_**See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on!**_

_02/11/2019_

_Whew! Am I exhausted. I'm not even sure I can muster the strength to write this, but I'll try. So we went to the caves, at last. Feels like I've been talking about them forever. _

_Scrooge wasn't kidding when he says he wanted us to leave at 9:30, and me and Donald know this from many years of experience, so when it got to 8:55 and both Goofy and Max where still in bed he was not best pleased to say the least._

"_Ah'm not waiting another minute!" Scrooge said, stamping his cane. "They need to get up and ready or ah'm leaving without them!"_

_Donald sighed. "I'll get them." And dragged himself off._

_Huey – who looked way to chipper for 9 o clock in the morning – said: "It doesn't say what tunnel it's in."_

_I stopped stirring my coffee and said. "What do you mean, Huey?"_

_He wrinkled his beak as he gently put the book on the table and explained. "There's three tunnels in the cave. It's fair to say that ONE of them MUST lead to ANOTHER tunnel where the Shield of Archilles had GOTTA be." He rested his head on his hands and said, thoughtfully. "It's just a matter of finding which tunnel…"_

"_Oh, that'll be easy." I said. "We'll just split up and go through the tunnel in small groups. Whoever finds the tunnel with the shield stays there, the other two groups will find the correct tunnel after a bit of …er, trial and error, shall we say?"_

_Dewey stuck his hand in the air and said, eagerly. "Can Uncle Goofy come with me?"_

"_We'll see." I said._

"_As long as nether of them are with me." Scrooge said, briskly stirring his coffee. "I don't think my nerves can stand it."_

_I glared at him. "Uncle Scrooge." I said, firmly. "Goofy and Max are coming with us weather you like it or not. At least act like you don't hate them!"_

_Scrooge stopped stirring his coffee and looked at me in genuine shock. "I doon't hate them! I doon't! You think ah woulda let them call me 'Uncle Scrooge' if ah hated them? An' I said they could come with me didn't I? I just doon't want to be responsible for rookies!"_

_I opened my beak, about to argue with him further when Donald came in with Goofy and Max in tow. So I shut up and stewed quietly while Goofy and Max made themselves breakfast. Then they ate it - thankfully quite quickly because I really think Scrooge was going to explode if they took to long – and we set off._

_Twenty minutes later we were at the caves, Goofy waving his coupon at the bored young man behind the counter who took one look at it, stamped it and ushered us through._

_Scrooge stopped us and said to the young man. "Is there anyone else on this tour?"_

"_Well yes sir." The young man said. "There's at least five." And indicated the small group of people just behind us._

_Scrooge gave them a customary glance and, turning back to the man, dropped his voice and said. "Er…how much would it cost to make sure we're the only ones on the tour? And un-accompanied by a tour guide."_

_The young man frowned. "I'm not sure that's technically allowed, sir."_

_Scrooge clicked his tongue. "Look, laddy." He said. "I understand it's not technically allowed, what I'm asking you is how much it would cost to make sure it happens."_

_The young man looked uncomfortable and muttered something about getting a manager before rushing of to presumably do just that. _

"_Wow." Donald said dryly as soon as the man had gone. "You MUST be desperate to actually willingly offer money to someone."_

_To which Scrooge said, grandly. "Sometimes, laddy, you need to make sacrifices. If I can get the, well…" He looked at the small group and dropped his voice again. "…The you-know-what then 1000 or so dollars will be worth it."_

_It was then that a very EFFICIENT LOOKING women came and drew Scrooge to one side and I saw him making out a cheque. Then the efficient-looking women sent the others packing and said we could go in, but we only had two hours – which was the length of the tour – and if we weren't out in time they would charge us further. _

"_We'll be out in time." Scrooge said, immediately. _

_So got kitted up and headed in and immediately gasped because, it's a bit hard to describe, but you are literally walking into a cave coated in ice with GORGEOUS icicles hanging from the ceiling and because there's a tiny amount of light we could see all the pretty patterns on the cave walls and, I think Dewey said it best._

"_Awesome." He breathed as we drank in the sight. _

"_So pretty." Webby added._

_Louie, open-beaked, lifted his phone up and took a picture. Cue Huey._

"_We're not meant to have phones in here!"_

_Louie shrugged._

"_Gawsh." Goofy said, staring at the ceiling. "Penny would've loved it in here."_

_I think mine, Donald's and Max's hearts stopped for about ten seconds following that. Goofy rarely talks about Penny. He acknowledges that he had a wife and will talk about her, but he usually has to be asked a precise question like 'How did you and your wife meet?' or 'What would your wife think of X?' for the conversation to start. It's extremely rare he just…brings her up like this. _

_There was a silence and then Max said, voice a little chocked. "W-would she, dad?"_

"_Yeah!" Goofy smiled, even if it didn't quite reach his eyes, slung his arm round Max and said, clearly not caring if the rest of us were there or not. "She liked watching lights reflecting of stuff you see. Anything that caused a pretty reflection, Jewellery, lava-lamps, disco-balls, she loved them all. She could watch them for hours." He shrugged. "I'll admit I never really understood WHY, but something about them seemed to calm her and make her happy. And if she was happy I was happy." He straightened up again and looked round the cave thoughtfully. "Shame we never really came here. I suggested it a few times. She didn't like the idea of the 'cave' part you see. She wasn't really keen on small spaces." He smiled fondly, then seemed to realise we were all watching him and said, brightly. "But you don't want to hear about my love life. What are we doing now, Uncle Scrooge?"_

_I got the feeling, going from his face, that Max would like very much to hear more about his mother, but I guess he understood this wasn't really the place for a nice trip down memory lane and looked up instead studying the lights. _

_Scrooge cleared his throat. "Right, here's what's happening. You will hopefully have noticed that there are three separate tunnels just on the other side of the cave." He pointed with his cave towards the tunnels. "Now, apparently when the tour guide comes down here they stick to the middle tunnel. That's not because the other two tunnels are un-useable but because the middle tunnel is the widest and they tend to have big groups down here. At the end of the middle tunnel at least there should be a smaller cave similar to this one. Apparently in that cave there is a 'loose icicle' that we have to find and pull and THAT should give us access to either ANOTHER ROOM – OR - a small block of ice with the Shield inside it. We will then break the ice using the chiseller and take the shield with us. The manageress knows we're looking for it and I've told her if we find it, it's ours, which she's agreed to." Scrooge took a breath. "Noow." He said. "The thing IS there's no guarantee that it's the middle tunnel, as a matter of fact it's probably not because apparently some other people have had the same idea as us, have tried the middle tunnel and got nowhere BUT it might be they simply haven't found the right icicle. So we'll check them all. The way we're going to do that is to have one leader per tunnel. Ah'm taking the middle one, Donald the left one, Della the right one. We'll break the rest of you down into small groups." He thought for a moment, then said, slowly. "Goofy and Dewey you're with Donald. Louie and Webby you're with me, which means Huey and Max, you're with Della. Any questions?"_

_Donald put his hand up. "Yes. What do we do if we can't find it?"_

"_You try another tunnel of course. Process of elimination laddy, use your intuitive. It's got to be in one of them! Noow." He looked at his watch. "We only have an hour and a half! C'mon let's go. Louie! Webby! Let's go!" And with that he strode off. _

"_Wish me luck." Louie said to his brothers as Webby bounded off. Dewey patted him on the back consolingly before bounding up to Donald and Goofy with a wide grin. _

"_So.." I turned to see Max standing there awkwardly. "Do we just go or what?"_

_I grinned at him. "We go and follow the directions that the good old trustworthy JWG gives us!"_

"_Ooh! Can I lead the way? Can I, Can I?"_

_I smiled. "Of course you can, Scoutmaster Huey!"_

_And with that we set off into the heart of the cave. _


	22. Ice Caves Part 3

**Hey! I'm back, sorry for the delay, RL and all. So thank you to Steampunk Wilson + KaliAnn for reviewing the last chapter, and I hope you enjoy this one.**

**See chapter one for the disclaimer and let's crack on. **

_So we set off down the absolutely FREEZING tunnel, Huey in front having the time of his life with the guidebook. "C'mon guys it's this way!" as we went down literally the longest tunnel ever. _

_The whole 'walking forever' thing was NOT helped by Max who seemed intent on walking at least twenty feet behind us at all times. After about ten minutes off this I dropped back and said._

"_Max is there a REASON you're acting like a tortoise?"_

_He blinked, laughed goofily and said. "Sorry Miss Duck-"_

"_Oh for – call me Della-"_

"_-Della. It's just…still reeling you know? From dad and mum and all that stuff. Dad never TALKS about mum, ya know? Like, ever. It's just…yeah. Yeah."_

_There was a bit of silence. An Awquad silence. Then I patted him on the back and made 'soothing noises' which I thought were appropriate. He smiled at me so I think they were alright. Unless he was just pitying me, which is entirely possible. _

"_FOUND IT!" Huey literally screamed at the top of his lungs, so hard that the icicles above us shook alarmingly. I leapt forwards and shoved my wing round his mouth and we all looked at the ceiling in terror. _

_Thankfully after a very scary 30 seconds the whole thing calmed down and we all breathed out a sigh of relief. I let my son go and patted him on the shoulder while saying. "Maybe…don't do that again, huh, Huey? I mean, I'll admit, I have dreamed about dying in MANY thrilling ways – but being impaled by an icicle is NOWHERE on the list, now - what have you found?"_

"_The room!" Huey said proudly indicating._

_So what he meant by 'the room' was NOT, as I first thought, the room where the sword of Archilles was hidden away, but the room where we had to find a loose icicle. Now, I'm not being funny there must have been roughly…a million icicles in this thing. Big ones, small ones, medium ones. And we had to walk round and find the one that would wobble and reveal a room._

_I re-capped this to Huey and Max and we started. It was a very long tedious process that quickly lost excitement after about the first five minutes. We didn't do the whole thing in silence though, Max kept us entertained with stories of his school and more importantly the kids within the school. I thought I was bad while I was at school. I don't know how Max gets through a day there. _

_Eventually he mentioned something off interest. He, a guy called 'Peej' and a guy called 'Bobby', are in a band. _

"_Ooh a band!" I said. "Donald was in a band with Jose and Panchito."_

_Max frowned. "Names sound familiar…" He said as he, with brilliant precision, leaned forwards to reach an icicle that was on the wall. "Think dad's mentioned them a COUPLE of times but not a lot…"_

"_Yeah well, they weren't really your dad's friends. They were more mine and Donald's. Well. Donald's to be honest."_

"_What, they weren't yours?" Huey said, mid-tap._

"_Well, YES, they WERE. But they made friends with Donald first and THEN were introduced to me a couple of months later-"_

"_-Why months?"_

"_BECAUSE Donald was going through a phrase were he wanted us to be less…twinsie. Therefore when he made friends who A} didn't KNOW about me and B} seemed too like him for him he leapt at the opportunity. Of course I found out about it. He kept sneaking out to meet him and I thought he was either meeting up with a girl OR up to something SERIOUSLY dodgy, so out of sisterly-concern for his well being [and the opportunity to make fun of him for being in love] I followed him. And, whaddya know, instead of meeting a girl he was meeting two guys instead. Well." I shrugged. "It takes all sorts…"_

_After about a further three hours [not kidding, it literally took that long] Huey sighed and said. "I don't think it's here, mom."_

_I also sighed and stood up, hands on hips. "No you're right. C'mon let's go try the left tunnel…"_

"_WHAT?" Max said, in disbelief. "We've got to do another one?" I threw my hands in the air._

"_That's what Scrooge said! And anyway, if we take the left tunnel you'll get to meet up with your dad, so…?"_

_So we left the tunnel. On the way up [cos it took a age. An ice age, actually. Hah!] Huey asked. "Mom…"_

"_Yes, sweetie?"_

"_What were Uncle Gladstone and Cousin Feathery like when they were younger?"_

_I thought about it, then said slowly. "Feathry was pretty much the same as he is now, to be honest. Slightly scatter-brained, keen thirst for knowledge and an un-dying loyalty to the Junior Woodchucks. Believe it or not he's got slightly MORE sensible as he's gotten older. Gladstone…" I trailed off, un-sure of how to put it._

_Huey, seeing I was stuck, said sympathetically. "Was he a pain?"_

"_Wha-no! Well, yes. At times. In the same way everyone ELSE in the family was a pain at some point. The thing with Gladstone." I said, realising the Huey's perception of his uncle Gladstone had probably been coulered by my dear twin going 'He's The Worst!' at every opportunity, "is that believe it or not he used to be quite nice. Quite sweet and slightly shy. Especially after his parents died and he went to Scotland-"_

"_-Yeah! He's talked about that. He lived with Uncle Ludwig and Auntie Matilda didn't he?"_

_I nodded, being suddenly unable to speak as a small lump came into my throat. It was the mention of Ludwig that did it. I still can't believe he's dead. And I didn't even get to say goodbye to him and it's ALL MY FAULT. _

_However, I didn't want to break down in front of Huey because, what sort of mother does that? My own mother never did. So I powered through it and said, as levelly as I could. "He did. For…three years I think? The he came back here and…he was quite loud and talkative. Always had to be the centre of attention. And of course, his lucky streak was well developed by then so he won at EVERYTHING, much to everyone's frustration. So, yeah, no one really wanted to be friends with him…"_

_I trailed off because I suddenly realised, I might be giving away a little to much. After all, Gladstone regards weakness as some kind of mortal enemy. I'm sure he wouldn't be happy in the slightest with me telling Huey no one wanted to be friends with him. Though it's true of course. People would literally cross the street to get away from him. And the more he tried to be friends by either being loud and friendly or by winning them stuff, it never worked out very well. _

_Thankfully, well, not really thankfully but kinda thankfully - basically the ceiling started shaking at the point. The icicles wobbled dangerously, and I was suddenly struck by, what I like to call my 'danger sense' going off and I literally grabbed Huey and bolted towards the exit while screaming at Max to hurry up. _

_He did and we made it out just as the shaking stopped._

"_Della!? Huey!? Where's Max?" I turned to see Scrooge standing there, panting and out of breath as Louie and Webby did great impressions of dying fish behind him. _

"_Max is- Here." I said as Max skidded into view._

"_I…" He panted. "Have…never run….that fast…in my…life, whew." He stood fully up and got his breathing under control, then looked around, worry dawning in his eyes. "Where's Dad?"_

_Me and Scrooge looked at each other, then looked at the left tunnel. _


	23. Ice Caves Part 4

**Hey! I'm back. After this chapter there's only one chapter left of this arc, then we move on. **

**Thank you to Steampunk Wilson and KaliAnn for reviewing the last chapter, see chapter 1 for the disclaimer. **

_So…I'm going to try and do something now. I'm going to try and write about Donald, Dewey and Goofy's experiences based of individual accounts they've all given me. Not that I went round with a notebook trying to interview them or anything, but, you know, we did talk about it. _

_So. They went of down the left tunnel, which was basically exactly the same as the right and the middle tunnel in so much as there was lots of ice in it [well, duh Della!] AND the tunnel went on forever. It did however afford the three of them plenty of time to catch up. _

"_So what have you and Max been up to?" Donald asked, as they strolled through the cave. _

_Goofy gave a laugh and said. "We've been doing loads! I took him fishing last year! And we went to a concert!" Cue a quite length explanation about the two of them._

_After he'd finished Donald grinned. "Sounds good. So…have you heard anything from Mickey?"_

_Cue Dewey whipping round and saying excitedly. "Oh yeah! Uncle Mickey! We haven't seen him in AGES have we, Uncle Donald? Huh? Have we?"_

"_No we haven't." Donald agreed, tiredly._

"…_Last I heard he was in Africa trying to get a shot of some sort of…what's the word? Vanimous? Venison?"_

"_You mean 'Venomous'?" Dewey asked, who I like to imagine was jogging backwards at this point. _

"_That's it! Gawsh. Your boys sure are smart, Donald."_

_I imagine Donald giving him a pointed look as he said. "They are. They're also not 'my boys'. They're Della's."_

"_Oops. Sorry." _

_Donald sighed. "Oh well. As long as he's enjoying himself."_

"_He's planning on coming back actually. To Della's Christmas party thing."_

"_Awsome!" Dewey yelled, cue Donald doing pretty much the same thing I did to Huey. _

"_Will you be quiet?" He hissed in Dewey's ear. "Do you WANT the caves to collapse or something?"_

_Anyway, to cut a long story short they eventually got to their room full of icicles. Cue them going 'Wow/Gawsh/Awsome!'_

_After a couple of seconds of staring Donald, practical as ever, got them back on track and reminded them of what they needed to do. I.E. Find the blasted icicle._

"_Are we sure it's here?" Goofy asked as Dewey immediately rushed to the nearest icicle and started tapping on it. _

"_No…but we won't know unless we look, so…"_

_Cue them spending a good amount of time testing icicles. It took them ages so they spent more time talking. They [annoyingly] haven't said in detail what they were talking ABOUT, but from what I could get it was family life from Donald. [That's probably why he hasn't gone into too much detail. He's probably been complaining about me.]_

_Goofy was a bit more open though. They spent a lot of time talking about Mickey and recounting various things that happened during their youth. Actually I lie. I know one thing they definitely talked about cause Dewey eagerly told me about it earlier on._

_Goofy: Hey Donald, are you still in touch with those fella's?_

_Donald: [Trying to twist his body into a small space to get at a clump of icicles] Be more specific!_

_Goofy: Sorry? [He can understand Donald, but sometimes when my brother says words like 'specific', 'pacific' or words that sound similar it can be hard to make out exactly WHAT words he's ACTUALLY using.]_

_Donald: [Already annoyed due to the bloody icicles] I said Spe-cif-ic!_

_Goofy: Oh! What didn't you say so? [Cue angry squawking] I meant…em…what's there names? You know the green and the red one…_

_Dewey: You mean Jose and Panchito?_

_Goofy: [Snapping his fingers] You got it! So…Donald?_

_Donald: [Almost bent double] ONE MINUTE!_

_Goofy and Dewey patiently waited until Donald had got up again, grumbling to himself before re-asking._

"_They're fine." Donald said, shortly._

_Now normally when my dear twin uses THAT voice, everyone in the immediate vicinity knows to get lost basically. Not George. however, oh no. _

"_Did they ever make that band they were talking about?"_

"_No!" Donald snapped, then, probably seeing Goofy's no-doubt hurt expression he sighed. "…Jose is a flight attendant. Panchito does kids party's."_

"_Oh, that's good. I bet the kids love him. Hhmm. Hey! Maybe I should book him for Maxy's next birthday!"_

"…_Isn't Max going to be 17?" Dewey asked as Donald face palmed. _

_Goofy looked confused. "You don't think he'll like it?"_

_Thankfully my twin and son were prevented from lying through their beak because it was at this point that Donald pressed an icicle that IMMEDIATELY gave in and was pushed easily to the floor. _

_They all paused as there was, what has been described to me by Dewey, and I quote as 'A really loud weird screeching sound' the entire room shook and Donald, calm as ever under pressure, screeched. _

"_GET INSIDE! NOW!" Before picking up Dewey and charging into the room with him._

_Goofy was hot on his heals and, with his famous holler, managed to get into the room just in time, skidding as he did so into a wall. _

_Well. I don't know whether it was the hollor, the fact Goofy smacked into the room or a mix of both but it seems that THAT was the reason our tunnels started shaking and that was the reason we all had to leg it out there or risk being buried alive in ice. _

_So back in the room Donald got up shakily and was like: 'Everyone alright?'_

_Cue: 'Yeah fine…' and 'Okey-dokey!'_

_Once he'd regained his heartbeat Donald looked round the room and switched his torch on because it was quite dark in their and shined it round, located Dewey and Goofy and checked they were actually alright._

"_What's that thing?" Dewey asked._

"_What thing?"_

"_That thing. It's like…some kind of shape…"_

_Frowning Donald turned round and shined his torch in the direction Dewey was pointing. _

_It's a bit hard to describe it without seeing it, but apparently it was basically a pedestal made out of ice in the middle of the room._

"_Shouldn't there be something on that?" Dewey asked, as Donald examined the top of it._

"_Should be…" Donald agreed. "Unless it's Hesphaestus own private joke." He stepped back. "Which I wouldn't put it past him. That guy has a weird sense of humour…"_

"_Hey, uh, what's this thing?" Goofy asked, stooping down._

"_DON'T TOUCH IT!" Donald screeched, nearly causing the entire room to collapse._

_Goofy literally froze [Hah!] and looked at him. _

_Donald bent down and looked at what Goofy was trying to show him. Basically it was a block of ice with the sword in it. The theory IS that it WAS on the pedestal, but the whole 'shaking cave' thing dislodged it and it fell just behind. _

"…_How are we going to get it out?" Dewey asked, as the three of them looked at it. _

"_Like this." Donald picked it up, immediately regretted it because it was so cold, but not wanting to back down, because he never does, because he's Donald Duck, he threw it against the wall, where it bounced of again and slid down harmlessly._

_With an angry squawk Donald picked it up again and threw it at another wall, where it did the same thing. He repeated this at least five times before, in a mad moment, trying to jump up and down on it to get it to crack._

_Well. I know I didn't do very well at school, but even I know that jumping up and down on a block of ice in the hope that it will break would require breaking the laws of physics, because ice is very slippery, so if you try and jump up and down on it the only thing you achieve [if you can call it that] is flying into a nearby wall at top speed and nearly getting a brain haemorrhage. Oh, and the freezing feet and bum as well. _

_As the wall took another hit it clearly decided it had had enough because the room started shaking and didn't stop. And as soon as Donald realised this he grabbed Dewey, yelled at Goofy to move and the three of them legged it out the room and through the corridor, nearly breaking the sound barrier in the process. _

_So. Getting back to us, we were outside the cave arguing about the best way to get the boys out. [Scrooge wanted to wait for the cave people, I just wanted to get down their and help] When we heard a familiar yell and turned to see three familiar figures running towards us._

_Cue us going, in very relieved voices. 'Donald!/Uncle Donald/Dewey/Dad' as they skidded to a stop in front of us. _

"_We found…the…the Shield." Donald panted, putting Dewey down. "But we…we had to…had to leave it there…to dangerous…"_

_Scrooge looked surprised. "What's that then?" He barked, pointing to Goofy._

_We all followed Scrooges point to see that Goofy – mad, wonderful Goofy – had grabbed the block of ice and run out with it._

"_Wha-?" Donald's jaw dropped open.]_

_Goofy gave a nervous laugh and re-jiggled the ice in his hands, saying, through chattering teeth. "I-I f-figured we, we needed it?"_

_There was a beat and then Max said what we were all thinking. "Dad, you are mental. But I'm glad you're alive."_

"_Oh so I am. C'mere, Maxy, gimme a hug!" Goofy then dropped the ice and gave Max a tight hug while he let out a wail and tried to get away._

"_Dad! You're freezing! Get off!"_

_We all laughed while Scrooge poked at the ice with his cane and said. "So, how are we gonna get this to the surface?"_

_The laughter stopped and we all looked at each other._

_So turned out the way you get a block of ice to the surface was for two of you [in this case Donald and Goofy] to pick it up and carry it, carefully up the ladder and lift it into the building where, I think it's safe to say, we attracted quite a crowd._

_And oh my – the museum people. Because Scrooge had told us that they had said we could have it if we found it, but when they agreed to that I don't think they thoughts we'd actually find it. So they came up to Scrooge and basically tried to argue that as it was on their property they owned it. But Scrooge waved the contract he'd apparently got them to sign at some point in their face, so they threatened to sue him and Scrooge laughed out loud and said he'd be pleased to see them in court and, after a lot of two-ing a fro-ing and Scrooge agreeing to give them a hefty donation, they agreed to drop the matter._

_So we then had to get the ice into the car, and funnily enough no-one really wanted to sit with it on their lap, so there was a discussion [read argument] about attaching it to the roof, but Scrooge was concerned it would fall off, so it was eventually agreed it would go in the boot. _

_We got it back to Goofy's place and had to empty his freezer in order to put it in there, because we were all very tired and just wanted to get to bed. Although we all had a warm bath first of course. We don't want to catch hympothermia after all. As there were nine of us it took a little while, but by mutual agreement Donald and Goofy went first in that order as they were the idiots that thought it would be an idea clutch ice to their chest. _

_Ah. Huey's calling me. Looks like it's my turn for the bath. See you tomorrow Diary. _


	24. Ice Caves - The Final Chapter

**Hey! Thank you to Steampunk Wilson, KaliAnn + Volonqarie for reviewing the last chapter.**

**This marks the end of the IceCaves arc. Next I think I'll go straight to the party because I'm behind already. **

**See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on. **

_Which idiot thought it would be a good idea to bring a block of ice into the house!? _

_We have just spent…an hour and a half? Trying to break the thing. Because [obviously] Scrooge needs the actual sword that is INSIDE the ice, not the actual ice itself._

"_Can't we just take it back with us?" Donald said, tiredly. "It'll melt on the way back if we strap it to the roof-rack."_

_Scrooge looked at him like he'd just suggested killing Dewey or something. "Strap it to – you know lad, sometimes I wonder what goes through tha' head o' yours."_

"_But-!"_

"_IF we stra' it to the ROOF and the ice MELTS then what'll happen? The sword will simply fall though the restraints onto the floor to be lost in the dredges o' a ditch somewhere!"_

_Donald opened his beak and then closed it again._

_I chose this moment to butt in with a moment of womanly-wisdom. "So what you're saying is we need to break it?"_

"_Exactly!" Scrooge nodded at me in approval. "Now, go I'll ask Goofy if he has a flame-thrower or something."_

_Donald looked extremely alarmed at that. "If he has I'm using it!" He called after Scrooges re-treating back. He turned back to me with bags under his eyes. "Like I'm gonna trust Goofy with a freakin' flame-thrower…" He muttered._

_I smiled at him in what I hoped was a sympathetic manner. "Sleep well?"_

"_To quote Mickey 'snug as a bug in a rug!'" He said, voice going high to mimic Mickey's manner. [Weird couple of words to string together] _

_I laughed and was still laughing when Scrooge came back in looking very annoyed. "They don't have a flame-thrower." He said, in genuine amazement. "Or a chainsaw. Or anything vaguely useful except knives."_

_Me and Donald looked at each other as Scrooge walked over to the nearest drawer, opened it and picked out a couple of sharp knives. "Well?" He said, seeing us staring at him. "What are you waiting for?"_

_So we took the knives and started chipping. You would have thought when we were packing that SOMEONE may have thought of chisellers but no. Common sense, I think it's fair to say, does not run in our family. _

_After about a solid forty minutes of this we had only made a couple of dents – quite sizeable dents – and our arms were exhausted._

_Donald put the knife down and wiped his forehead. "I haven't done a work-out like this since I was in the navy." He said._

_I looked at him. "You're telling me in the navy they got you working as ice-sculptors when you weren't being shot at?"_

_Donald glared at me. "Shut up." He said, maturely. _

_Scrooge was getting more annoyed. "There must be an easier way to do this!" He said, glaring at the ice. Then, with a squawk of annoyance and another example of the famous Duck common sense, when Scrooge picked the ice up and threw it on the floor, clearly learning nothing from Donald's experiences yesterday._

_It was when our dear uncle was doing this that Goofy came in. "Gawsh." He said, doing that thing when he puts his hands up to his mouth. "What are you doing, Uncle Scrooge?"_

_I would have thought that would have been obvious, but apparently not. _

"_I want to break it!" Scrooge snapped. "That's what I'm doing!"_

"_Well, why don't you try melting it?" Goofy asked._

_Cue the three of us looking at each other, then Doanld turned back to Goofy and went:_

"…_What?"_

"_Yeah! Hold on-" And he darted out the room._

_Scrooge poked the ice and glared at it like it was his personal enemy. Which, to be fair, at that moment it pretty much was. _

_When Goofy came back it was with two hair-dryers. "Here you go." He said, plopping them on the table. "That might help."_

_So we plugged them in and me and Goofy blew the hairdryers at the ice. It was me and Goofy because by that point Scrooge was sulking and Donald was complaining his arm was numb. Mine was to! Bloody wimps…_

_Even with the hairdryers it took us twenty minutes but we managed it. Or rather we got it to a point where the boys found it easier to hack at it with knives. _

_So after an age [an ice age – hah!] we got the sword free._

"_Careful!" Scrooge yelled as Donald brushed bits of ice of it with the blade of his knife. _

"…_Yeah, yeah – I got it." My twin muttered, expertly cleaning the sword. _

_He had got it as well and soon the sword looked as good at it did when Hephaestus made it. _

"_Gee, it looks great, Uncle Scrooge." Goofy said. "What are you going to do with it?"_

_Scrooge smiled and stroked the sword. "I think it'll be quite nice in my treasure room. I'll have Beakley clear a space for it."_

_Goofy looked confused and looked at Donald, who explained. "It's a trophy. Metaphorically of course."_

_So yeah. Mixed reactions between me and Donald, while we were packing to go back Donald was complaining that we risked our life so Scrooge can have another 'trophy' for his room, while I was just pleased I got to go on another adventure with my boys. _

"_The boys are 12." Donald pointed out. "They should be doing normal stuff instead of trawling though ice caves. Attending clubs. Watching TV. Hanging with friends."_

_I paused. "They don't have any friends to they? Except for Webby, of course."_

_Donald scrunched his beak up. "Yeah…I worry about that…"_

_I looked at him. "Well, don't. I mean, look at us two. For ages we just has each other didn't we? Although we had Gladstone and Feathry of course."_

"_Yeah. And Mickey and Goofy." Donald pointed out. "And I had Panchito and Jose."_

"_And Minnie and Daisy." I said. Donald flinched and I held mu hands up. Daisy's still a sore-point obviously…_

_So yeah. All in all a good trip. Be nice to do it again at some point._

_Well, catch you next time diary!_


	25. Pink and Purple

_30/11/2019 _

_It's Party Day! Eeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkk! And of course, before I greet a lots of people I haven't seen for about 12 years there is one very important thing I need to do._

_Get my hair done._

_Or more specifically – get my hair done at Pink and Purple [You can dream it – we can style it!]. And the fact that I may 'run into' Daisy and finally get some answers about her and my dear brother? _

_Nothing to do with it._

"_I'm off into town." I said, walking into the kitchen._

_Huey was sitting at the table doing homework. "Okay. See you later, mom."_

"_Love you." I said, and kissed the top of his head. _

_So, I managed to drive into town and I managed to park. What I managed to NOT DO is put money in the parking metre, which I was rudely informed off when a bloke yelled after me: "Yo, lady! Ya need ta pay!"_

_Thankfully as I went into town with the intention to actually buy something I had my purse with me, and managed to put money in. Then I legged it to the Boutique cos it suddenly dawned on me I might miss my appointment._

_So, just to set up the scene, I burst through the door with a red face, breathing heavily and generally looking awful._

_Then I hear a familiar voice. "Della Duck!? O.M.G – Hi!" I turned round to see Minnie coming towards me with a big smile on her face, which froze the minute she saw me. "Oh…I see. I think Daisy's ready for you, if you want to follow me?"_

_Great. I look freakin' awful. Minnie on the other hand…look good. For one thing she's changed her style, in the old days she only really wore a skirt that was black with white dots on it that frequently got mistaken for some kind of allergic reaction, now she wears a red dress with white dots on it that actually covers her top half. And I think she's had an ear job. Or, two ear jobs rather, obviously. _

"_Do you want to take a seat?" Minnie said, cheerfully, patting the chair. "By the way, I'm SO looking forward to the party later. So's Mickey. He cut short his trip to join us. The camera crew was NOT happy, but –" She shrugged, prettily. "Who cares? You're back. Now…" She turned and literally hollered. "DAISY!"_

"_Coming!" A sing-song voice said from behind me and I turned to see Daisy heading towards me with a trolley full of beauty products, which I thought was a little insulting to be honest._

_Daisy looked quite good as well, but she had bags under her eyes and seemed just a little TO peppy as she said, brightly. "So, Della, what are we doing today?"_

…_A little weird. Everyone who has seen me since I got back has ALWAYS asked me how I am, what the moon was like, what's it like being back that kind of stuff but Daisy didn't really seem to be playing ball. _

_So, seeing as I know precisely NOTHING about fashion I told her to just make me look like something people are NOT going to want to throw stones at. Or faint at. _

_So she started on my hair and she talked. About the weather, about the news, about the store, about Mickey and Minnie [I learned A LOT about the Mouse's] about Goofy and Max about nearly EVERYTHING and she talked for forty minutes straight. _

_FORTY MINUTES!_

_Although I did noticed she was staying away from one subject in particular, or one DUCK in particular, so I decided to address it myself._

"_So…Daisy. I can't help noticing you haven't mentioned Donald…"_

_She paused mid-brush, then carried on, saying carefully. "I…havn't spoke to Donald for ages…"_

"_Well, I gathered that. Why?"_

_She scrunched her beak up. "Look, Della…I don't wanna talk about it. It was mutual, I will say that. It…just wasn't working out."_

"_But why?" I said, feeling annoyed. _

_Daisy's eyes narrowed and she said, steadily. "I'm not prepared to discuss that."_

"_But-!"_

"_Okey, you're done!" She said, taking a step back. "Minnie! Got to go Della, I've got another appointment. Coming Mrs Beagle!" She said before hurrying up, practically leaving a shower of dust behind her. _

_I blinked. "Mrs Beagle!?" I said, turning round in my seat. "She better not be planning to sabotage my party…" I muttered, sinking lower in my seat. Damn Daisy! What was with the SECRECY!? _

"_Sorry about that." Minnie said, cheerfully. "Daisy doesn't usually rush of like that…so, what for you think?"_

_So I actually took a proper look in the mirror and…I looked gorgeous. Like, drop-dead gorgeous. _

_I couldn't actually find the words to say it, but Minnie seamed to understand and patted my shoulder._

_When I could speak again it was to ask if Minnie could try and persuade Daisy to come along tonight. She looked definitely unsure, but said she'd try._

_Geez, it'd be SO GOOD if I could get them to make up again! _


	26. The Morning After

_**[**_**Peaks round the corner, nervously] …Hello? Roxy Goth here. Er…sorry I haven't updated for a few months. Not only did I lose motivation, my original plan was to update in real time, so the 01/12/2019 in the diary would be the 01/12/2019 in real life. Obviously that won't be happening now.**

**Anyway, thank you to KaliAnn + Valonqarie for reviewing the last chapter. And for those who have favourited and followed it over the past months. **

**I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's been fun writing it, I must say.**

_01/12/2019_

_I woke up this morning slightly dis-orientated and feeling light as air. It's a feeling I've gotten quite a lot lately, I think I'm having flashbacks to the S.O.S. I can deal with it quite easily as long as I remember to just lie there and not get up. The first time I tried that I forgot gravity was a thing, put too much force into it and managed to catapult myself into the bed-side table. Cue Mrs Beakley running in swinging a broom round her head because she thought we were being burgled. That was a fun start to the day. _

_Anyway, just as I was feeling like my legs might work again Donald woke me up at 11 o clock with a cup of tea and said: "Last night was good wasn't it?"_

_I groaned and stuffed my face in the pillow._

"_I must admit it was a good idea of Gyro's to get Fenton to be the DJ." Donald said, sitting himself on the edge of my bed. "Shame he couldn't make it himself."_

_I raised the pillow slightly to give him 'a look' and said. "You realise Gyro was in his lab the entire night, right?"_

_There was a pause then Donald rubbed his fore-head. "Why didn't he turn up then?"_

"_Er…because it's Gyro and I'm certain he'd prefer sticking pins in his eyes than socialising at a party?"_

_Another beat, then. "Fair enough." From my dear twin. _

_There was a comfortable silence while I picked up my tea and slurped at it, practically hearing Beakley's dis-approving voice in my head as I did so._

"_Beakley would kill you if she could see you doing that." Donald said, apparently reading my mind._

"_Let her try." I scoffed and then quickly looked at the doorway to make sure she couldn't hear me. That women is scary._

"_Oh, by the way…" Donald reached into his dressing-gown pocket and handed me some slips of paper. "Here. Keep hold of them and for Zeus's sake try not to lose them-"_

_Rubbing my eyes, I looked at them and saw they were the discount vouchers for that drama club Dewey was going on about a few months back. Gladstone gave them to me last night. Honest, it was brilliant. I hope to Selene he never gets recruited to be a spy or something, he wouldn't last two seconds. This is how it went, picture the scene, the party had just started, guests were arriving, I was feeling happy, and then Louie arrives at my elbow and goes:_

"_Gladstone and Feathry are here." In the same tone of voice that one might say 'The bubonic plague has just arrived on the doorstep.' _

_Ever since that little argument we had a couple of weeks ago Louie's not really mentioned Gladstone, but clearly the 'wounds' ,whatever they are, haven't healed yet. But being the mother – and thus the more 'responsible' one I ignored his tone and went to welcome my cousins. _

"_Hello!" I squealed throwing my arms around them both. _

_They said hello as well and complimented me on my look which was nice. I said the same for them both as well, although, really, only Gladstone had 'made an effort'. He had on that nice sparkly jacket he showed us last time we were round his place and that combined with the smart shirt [green of course] made him look quite handsome._

_Feathry, on the other hand, firstly still had on his bobble hat, secondly he had a smart red shirt on, but no jacket. That combined with his beaming smile, did have the unfortunate effect of making him look a little…deranged._

_Anyway, Feathry bounded off to go and talk to/annoy Don and I thought Gladstone would follow, but he signalled for me to come closer and, looking round like he thought someone would jump out at him, he said:_

"_Here." And with all the subtlety of Dewey doing ANYTHING he passed me these vouchers and added. "They're for Dewey. Either you or Donaldo can give them to him, I'm not bothered."_

_I looked at them like they were made of gold-dust and, after about five seconds, manged to hiss back. "W-well, thanks Gladstone, but if – if we give him these then what are you going to give him? Or the others?"_

"_Oh-!" Gladstone waved a hand dismissively and said, while looking at the floor. "I'm sure I can find something. I'll stand outside a cool electronics store and someone will pass the latest model into my hands for Louie. Dewey, I was thinking of ordering a DVD for. Some musical thing, I'm bound to get some kind of discount somewhere along the line - now Huey." He looked round like he was afraid someone would be bothering to listen to us, then leaned closer and whispered in my ear. "Does he like stamps?"_

"_Er…" I tried to think, but what with the music playing loudly and guests appearing left, right and centre I ended up telling him I didn't know. Gladstone shrugged, looked past me and then abruptly walked off. _

_I was about to yell at him when I heard. "I don't believe it! It CAN'T be – it is! - little Della!"_

_Well. There's only ever been three limited people who can call me 'Little Della' without being punched in the beak. One, my mother [unlikely to be her seeing as, you know, she's dead], Two – Grandma Duck. [She used to call all of us 'little' Della, Donald, Gus, whoever it was, regardless of what age, height or weight we reached.] Third – Gus. And seeing as the voice was distinctly deep and brassy…_

"_Oh! I haven't seen you in ages!" Gus exclaimed, while literally lifting me off my feet and hugging me to his chest. "Oh – how was space?"_

_To which I tried to reply 'It was great' but instead said. "Mmmfff!" As, you know, my beak was crushed against his chest and all._

_So he put me down and we talked for a few minutes until the subject came round to Grandma. Well. I say the subject came round, what I actually mean is I went 'Where's Grandma? I thought she was coming?" And I knew I'd hit on a sore spot immediately because Gus stopped laughing, his eyes kinda dimmed and he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, um, yeah." He said. "She did GET your invitation, but the fact is, she's, um, very – well – old, as I'm sure you know – and the fact is she can't make it." He looked at my face, sighed, shrugged and said. "I suppose you might as well know. Ah'm basically her carer now. Although if you see her don't ever tell her that – she still thinks she can do everything. As a matter of fact, I wasn't going to come tonight but Grandma insisted I come and Abner kindly offered to look after her for the night. So, he won't be here. He did get the invitation though."_

"_He just didn't want to come?" _

_Gus shrugged again and said. "Well, it was either him coming or me coming and as much as I love 'im you're got to admit – I'm much more fun at a party, aren't I? [Side note – that's totally true] Now where's the buffet?" And he was off._

_So, I mingled a bit and did a bit of dancing and a bit of eating. It was a very nice evening, myself and Minnie spent a lot of time on that dancefloor boogieing to the music Fenton was playing. That boy is wasted as an assistant to The Sociable One – he should be a DJ._

_Talking of Minnie, Mickey showed up, which was a nice surprise. It was a bit of a mystery if he would manage to get here because of the whole 'trying to film in Africa' thing, but he did eventually manage it. He spent a bit of time telling us about his adventures. It sounds like it's been quite an exciting 6 months, here's an extract:_

_Mickey: "Well, one time we decided to try and get a shot of a lone buffalo that had wondered of to eat some grass and-" He giggled. "Mortimer – for reasons best known to himself – decided the best way to get the shot would be to sneak up to the buffalo and – I don't know if you've ever tried to sneak up on a buffalo while holding a camera in front of your face and at the same time making sure you don't step on anything you shouldn't – BUT it turns out it's quite tricky and – well." Another laugh. "The long and short of it is that we were chased for about a quatre of a mile through the African savannah by a camera-shy buffalo." _

"_Oh, Mickey!" Minnie gasped, hands flying up to her face. _

_Mickey laughed and waved a hand. "Ah, don't worry toots. I'm fine."_

"_And Mortimer?" Goofy asked._

_Mickey grinned. "Well, let's just say he had trouble sitting down for the next fortnight or so…"_

_So, yes, the party was brilliant, well worth the extravagant {!} price that Scrooge eventually forked out for it. And when me and Donald finally got downstairs, we saw the boys and Webby sitting at the kitchen table counting a small pile of money. _

"_Where'd you get that?" My brother said, suspicion instantly aroused. _

"_From last night." Louie explained. "Seeing as you got us to take coats and stuff all night and be un-official waiters, we decided we'd make some money out of it – and it worked! We've got $76.35 here."_

"_There weren't even 50 people AT the party!" I said._

"_There weren't." Huey agreed. "But a couple of people gave us a little extra…"_

"_Let me guess." My twin sighed. "Goofy and Mickey?"_

_The four of them nodded and Dewey said. "Uncle Goofy gave us $8.00 – that'd be $2.00 each – and Uncle Mickey gave us a $20.00 note –"_

"_I hope you thanked them." Donald said, warningly._

"_Yes, that's very generous of them." I echoed. "Especially Goofy – you know he doesn't earn a lot."_

"_That's $28." Scrooge said, from the kitchen table. "Where'd the other $48 come from?"_

"_Uncle Jose and Uncle Panchito gave us a few extra bucks." Louie said, casually._

"_Uncle Jose gave us $10.00 and Uncle Panchito gave us $12:35." Webby explained, pointing at the relevant amount of money. "He said he would have given us more but that was all the money he had in his wallet."_

_A deep flush came over Donald's face and – through gritted teeth – he said. "Well. That's very GENOROUS of Panchito isn't it? Giving you ALL the money in his wallet? I mean – for crying out loud! – why didn't you stop him? Tell him a fiver would be enough?"_

"_We did thank him profusely." Huey said, hurriedly._

"_And Jose." Webby added._

"_Besides." Louie said, running his hand around the pile of cash. "This little lot here is making up the money we're going to use to get your Christmas gifts with, so the more the better surely?"_

"…_Go and do something else before I lose my temper." Donald said, quietly._

_The boys and Webby looked crushed and Huey started to protest with: "But Uncle Donald-!"_

"_-GO!" Donald bellowed causing the kids to scurry from the room._

"_Donald!" I said, gasping a little. "That was a bit harsh, wasn't it?"_

_He shook his head and sank into a chair. "Took all the money from his wallet? I thought I raised them better than that?"_

"_To be fair, Don." I said, reasonably. "This IS Panchito we're talking about. He'd give the shirt of his back if he thought someone needed it. And you know what he's like with kids. Even if they DID try and give it back, he'd have insisted they keep it."_

_Don shook his head and, burying his head in his hands, said: "I'm gonna have to go and try and give him the money back."_

_There was a beat, then I said. "You know Don, there's these new things called 'cashpoints'. He can get more money out-!"_

"_-That's not the point! It's the principle of the thing. I'll have to go over tomorrow."_

"_Why tomorrow?" Scrooge asked._

"_Because he and Jose go home the day after tomorrow!"_

_Scrooge gave him a look. "You mean they only came for four days?"_

_Donald and me exchanged looks, then Donald said to our dear uncle. "No. They came for the week. I think Panchito said that they visited the Statue of Liberation last Tuesday, look, Jose sent me a picture, hold on…" He dug his phone out and showed the picture to Scrooge who raised an eyebrow._

_I think I know why. I should point out both Jose and Panchito have visited the Statue of Liberation before and since then whenever they come over they always try and go and see it, mainly so they can stand in a different position and make different funny faces at the camera. This year Panchito decided it would be a good idea to 'ride' the flame, so the picture is off him on-top of the flame, Jose looking horrified and security running towards them both. So now the pair of them have been banned. So it looks like the tradition is abandoned for now. _

_Anyway, I'd better go. Beakley's calling us for tea. See you next time, diary!_

**Hello, me again. Just a quick note – I have done some research into the Statue of Liberty and I now know that the flame is not accessible to the public. Because of this I changed the statue of liberty to the statue of liberation. **


	27. The Four Caballeros

**Hey! I'm back. Thank you to Steampunk Wilson, KaliAnn + Valonqarie for reviewing the last chapter. **

**Erm…a couple of notes about this chapter. One - It does feature Jose and Panchito in it. These are two characters that I have not actually written for before. So any tips for how I can improve them is welcome, because I enjoyed writing them and as Donald's friends they may well turn up in a later chapter. **

**Two – Obviously Panchito and Jose are from Mexico and Brazil respectfully. Because of this I have them speaking their native language a couple of times. And as I don't speak either Portuguese or Spanish, I have been using google translate to help me. I'm just hoping it's right. But because this is Della's diary and she [I'm assuming, if she's also been friends with Jose and Panchito and done a lot of travelling] can speak Spanish and Portuguese she wouldn't need to translate it. So it's untranslated, but feel free to use google translate if you want to know what there saying. I hope you should be able to pick it though from what the other characters say in response and the re-cap at the end.**

**Sorry for the long Authors Note, let's crack on. Hope you enjoy. **

_02/12/2019_

_Thank Selene I got up when I did today, because a minute later and I would have missed Donald. I woke up at what I thought was quite late in the morning [I think I'm still suffering from sleep-deprivation] and when I got downstairs it was to find Donald standing in the hallway trying, and failing, to get his wings into his jacket._

"_Whaaakkkkk!" He was spluttering while spinning round in a circle. _

"…_Do you need any help?" I said, smiling sweetly from the bottom of the stairs._

_He stopped spinning and glared at me. "What does it look like?" He said, grumpily._

_I rolled my eyes and said, as I was helping him, "Honestly whatever would you do without me?" I said it as, you know, a light, jokey thing, but he instantly sort of froze and even I wanted to kick myself. So I did._

_Donald – either not noticing me kicking myself, or more likely ignoring it – brushed my stupid statement off and said. "I am going to see Jose and Panchito. See you later-"_

"_Why are you going-?"_

"_Keep up, Dumb-ella! To give Panchito his money back."_

"_Well, wait a minute and I'll come with you. I didn't get chance to talk to them much the other night."_

"_You talked to them for fifteen minutes!"_

_I tsked. "That was only basics 'how are you's?'. And besides. Panchito did most of the talking."_

"_Panchito ALWAYS does most of the talking-"_

"_Oh, quit arguing! I'm coming with you and that's that! Besides. You can treat me to a Big Maccies."_

_So I left Donald squawking behind me and went to say goodbye to the boys. I went to the TV room, because I thought that's where they would be. Only Louie was there, remote in one hand, idly skipping through the channels. _

_I told him where we were going and he said 'Uh-huh.' And carried on skipping. _

_A bit annoyed by his attitude I put my hands on my hips and asked him where his brothers were. "Huey's upstairs doing homework and Dewey's doing something with Webby. Don't ask me what, I wasn't listening."_

"…_So, if Huey's doing homework, shouldn't you be as well?"_

_He rolled his eyes. He probably thought I couldn't see him considering he was facing away from me, but having been something of a stroppy teenager myself and watching Donald go through his 'emo' phrase, trust me I know a teenage eye-roll when I see one. _

"_Don't you roll your eyes at me, young man!" I snapped, echoing my mother's words from goodness knows how long ago. _

_He told me he hadn't, I told him he had because I'd seen him do it, he said that was impossible seeing as he was facing away from me, I lost my temper, told him never to speak to me like that again and said if he hadn't done him homework by the time I got back he'd be grounded till the end of time. [Quoting directly from Scrooge there]_

_By the time I got in the car smoke was practically billowing from my ears._

"_Don't talk to me." I said, before Donald could open his beak._

_To be fair, he didn't. Just started the car up and off we went. Barely five minutes later I snapped._

"_How the hell did you manage it!?"_

_Donald raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, which just pissed me off more. _

"_C'mon! You raised them for 10 years! Tell me how you did it!"_

_Donald shrugged as best as he could while driving. "There's no secret, really. Just lots and lots of patience. So, tell me, was it Louie?"_

"_How did you know!?"_

"_He does have that special way of winding people up." My brother admitted. "But he means well. What was the argument about anyway?"_

_So I filled him in and he nodded wisely. "Ah, I see. Yes, homework has been a source of…frustration over the years. Of course, it's slightly better now the boys have got their own system."_

_I gave him a side wards look. "What system?"_

_He gave me his own side wards look and asked. "You mean, you haven't cottoned on yet?"_

"_Cottoned on to what?"_

_My annoying twin gave a loud laugh and I resisted the urge to punch him in the arm. "Tell me." I snapped._

"_The way it works is: Huey does his homework first – so he doesn't get distracted by Dewey and Louie arguing and asking him questions. Then he helps Dewey who is normally fine, but needs a little help sitting still and actually, you know, DOING the work. Then he helps Louie. Though to be fair Louie is pretty good, especially with Maths. He just needs it double-checking and helping on more difficult questions." _

_So that was me told then. I seethed in the passenger seat the entire way to the hotel, angry at myself, angry at Donald, even angry at the boys although I tried to shake that feeling because I KNEW they didn't deserve it. _

_I'm not sure if I'd had ever broken out of it had Donald not touched my shoulder lightly and said. "Della, we're here."_

_I shrugged him off and stormed out the car and up the path._

_Donald called after me but I ignored him. He caught up inside the hotel's lobby and, looking at me with thinly-veiled annoyance, hissed. "Look, Della, I get it must be annoying, trying to figure out the boys, but there's no need to take it out on me, ya clod!"_

_I glared daggers at him and, folding my arms pouted. He just didn't get it. No one 'gets' it. They all think they do, but they don't. And it stinks. _

_By this point we had attracted the attention of the manager who came hurrying over to us with a 'Can I help you?'_

_Now. Normally I would take over at this point because Donald, well. Can't talk properly. But – and I'm not proud of this – I was still seething, so I clamped my beak shut and glared at the wall, leaving poor Donny to try and explain what it was we wanted._

_He started of simple enough. "I want to see Jose and Panchito." He said, slowly. _

_The manager looked confused [which is not a surprise] and politely asked my brother to repeat himself._

"_I want. To see. Joe-se. Ca -Ri – O – Ca. And. Pan-Chi-To. Pis-toles." Don said, and to be fair he was really making an effort. _

_The manager took a breath and repeated. "You want to see…" Good so far. "No-Say and…I didn't get the other bit…"_

_As steam started practically coming out of Donald's ears and his face turned a familiar shade of beetroot the manager gabbled. "Or maybe you could write it down? One moment I can fetch you a pen and paper -Louise!" He called to the women on the desk. "Louise! Bring a pen and some paper-"_

_By now even I knew things were going a bit to far and cut in with: "Excuse me, we're looking for our friends Jose Carioca and Panchito Pistoles."_

_Cue the manager looking at me like: 'Why didn't you say something before!?' Which to be fair, I totally get and I feel like an walloper, but never mind. The past is the past. Anyway, so he took us out to the shooting range. We should have guessed. Panchito and guns go together like, well, ducks and water._

_As we approached, we heard two gunshots which for some reason made me jump, despite the fact it was, you know, a shooting range! Then we heard a familiar loud laugh and the buzz of voices._

"_Panchito." Myself and Donald said at the same time._

"_Allow me." The manager said, opening the door for us. "Mr Pistoles? Mr and Miss's Duck for you."_

_I wish he hadn't said that. He made us sound like a couple which is beyond disgusting. _

"_Don-nald!" _

_We turned to see Jose coming towards us, arms open like he hadn't just seen us two days ago. "And Della! How lovely to see you both, but what are you doing here? We only saw you a couple of days ago!"_

"_I've got some mon-" Donald began, only to be interrupted by a big rooster yelling._

"_EVERYBODY QUIET! We need to concentrate!"_

"_Si senor, gracias!" We turned to see Panchito in the middle of the room, with about three of four other guys, holding a pistol [which was probably hired] in his hands. His eyes lit up when he saw us and he waved enthusiastically. "Donald! Della! Hola!"_

"_Who are they?" One of the three other guys demanded, eyes narrowing suspiciously. I began wondering what Panchito had gotten himself into now and judging by Donald's eyes narrowing he was thinking the same._

"_Listen here, bub-" He began, only to be cut off by a:_

"_Donald! Della!" Jose waved at us from a nearby table. "Come, sit."_

"_Jose, what's going on with-" Donald jerked his head towards Panchito and his new 'friends'_

"_They are having a shooting competition." Jose said, as we sat down. "It is just getting to the last one."_

"_What's he gotta do?" I asked, leaning forward._

_Jose turned and pointed. "You see that big tree over there?" We followed his point to the edge of the shooting range where there was something that I couldn't quite work out in the distance._

"_What is it?" Me and Donald said together, before glaring at each other._

_Jose let out a loud laugh that got the attention of at least twelve people before explaining that the thing in the distance was a shooting target and that Panchito had to hit it in order to win a bet he had set up. _

"_He's never going to be able to do it." I said, without thinking._

_Donald kicked me but thankfully Jose just laughed. "I would not be so sure of that, perder Della. He has hit 12 already. This is either going to be lucky or unlucky 13."_

_I would have asked more questions but at that point one of the three guys yelled at us all to shut up, so we did. _

_Panchito stepped up to the edge, he raised his pistol, did a little tail-shake for no reason that I could think off, raised the gun and:_

_BANG!_

_Despite the fact I WAS expecting it I still jumped, nearly knocking a glass of water of the table and into Donald's lap in the process. _

_Thankfully Donald's yells, Jose's laughter and my apologies were drowned out [no pun intended] by Panchito's loud holler of victory as he jumped around, triumphantly._

"_Congratulations, Panchito, my friend." Jose said to Panchito while handing Donald a silk hankie. "That was indeed Maravilhoso."_

"_It was, wasn't it?" Panchito agreed, helping himself to some water. "And look at this money." He added, flicking through it. "It will be a big help to my familia."_

_Donald cleared his throat. "Talking of which, 'Chito, ¿Puedo prestarte un momento?"_

_Panchito looked somewhat surprised, but agreed and they moved off, leaving me with Jose._

_I looked at him, a little unsure of what to say seeing as I haven't spoken to him for about 11 years. Thankfully I didn't have to worry because Jose is never lost for words. _

"_So…Donald is in fine spirits as always, isn't he?"_

_I laughed and was about to reply when we heard a:_

"_No, no! A thousand times, no!"_

"_But Panchito-!"_

_We turned to see Panchito flouncing [there's no other way to describe it] towards us and, with a dramatic flair, he slammed his fist on the table and declared. "¡No, Donald, me niego a tomar tu dinero!"_

"_What money?" Jose asked, interest clearly piqued. _

"_The boys told me they took the last of Panchito's money the other night." Donald said, through gritted teeth. "I'm simply returning it to him-"_

"_¡Y me niego a aceptarlo!"_

_¿¡Por qué no!? Donald asked, throwing his arms out, nearly catching Jose round the head._

"_Porque no te necesito compadecer-!"_

"_I'm not trying to pity you!" Donald snapped, face nearly turning beetroot. "I am trying to do the right thing!"_

"_Bueno, en ese caso cómprame un trago!"_

"…_A drink?" Donald echoed, face regaining it's normal couler._

"_I shall have one to if you do not mind, Donald." Jose said, lighting a cigar._

"_And me." I added._

_Donald stood there sputtering for a few seconds before snapping at Jose. "I thought you had given up!?"_

_Jose blew a puff of smoke before saying, lazily. "It is a hard battle."_

_So basically, to cut a long story short, we all ended up with a drink and Panchito refused completely to take Donald's money, happy to accept the two drinks as payment. We spent a good couple of hours there and it was really nice to catch up with them again. Eventually we had to leave though._

"_We shall have to do this again sometime, my friends." Jose said, getting up and twirling his cane. _

"_Indeed we shall." Panchito agreed. "Hey, maybe we can visit the Statue of Liberation again, no?"_

_I raised my eyebrow. "Panchito, you do realise what a 'lifetime ban' means, don't you?"_

_He nodded. "Si, Jose and I, we are banned for the rest of our living lives."_

"_Yes…so you're not going to be able to go back again, are you?"_

"_We'll find a way, won't we Jose? Donald?"_

"_Sim." Jose said, at the exact same time my twin said._

"_You have got to be joking!"_

"_We could sneak in." Jose said. "I could russ-sell up some disguises…"_

"_No!" Donald howled._

_Panchito waved a hand. "We'll discuss it when we come back next year."_

_So we said our goodbye's and got in the car._

"_Damn Panchito!" Donald hissed as soon as we got in the car. "Why does he have to be so goddamn PROUD?"_

"_You wouldn't have him any other way." I said, starting the engine. _

"_No…I suppose I wouldn't…"_


	28. A nasty suprise

**Hey! I'm back, hope you're all well. Thank you to KaliAnn and the two Guest's who reviewed the last chapter, it still means a lot.**

**So, I see Daisy had made an appearance in Ducktales this season [at last!] So I feel obliged to say I'm going in a different direction to the show due to the fact I've already got an idea for her. **

**Warning: Swearing. **

**So, hope you all enjoy the next chapter, see the first for the disclaimer. **

_08/12/2019_

_Eeeekkkk! Guess who me and Donald saw today? Minnie and Daisy! I know, I couldn't believe it, I was just, like, tapping Donald on the shoulder like:_

"_Er…Don…"_

"_What?" He asked, turning away from the travel book he was looking at for Scrooge. [Like the guy needs any MORE travelling ideas] "Oh…phooey."_

_I clutched his shoulder. "Let's go say hi!"_

"_Let's not." Donald said, quickly._

_It was at that point that Minnie looked up and -spotting us – waved eagerly, a massive smile across her face._

_Daisy looked confused at first [she and Minnie were sitting opposite each other] but she turned and saw us and her face kinda…froze? I could just see the words 'Oh shit' written across her face. _

_Donald wasn't faring much better either, he clutched my shoulder [that must have looked a weird sight] and hissed in my ear. "Do you think they've seen us!?"_

_I looked at Minnie – still waving like it wasn't one of the awkwardist moments ever – and Daisy, who's smile was beginning to resemble the joker, and said. "…Yes, yes I do."_

_Don muttered a swearword into my shoulder. _

"_Maybe we can say we're busy?" I said, flustered. "I mean, it's not exactly a lie - we're technically shopping –"_

_I felt Don take a deep shuddering breath, then he stood up straight and, running adjusting his hat, said, just as flusteredly as I had. "N-no – they've seen us. W-we'd better go over. C'mon –" he rammed his hat firmly on his head, straightened his bow-tie and said – in true Duck family style. "-Let's get this over with."_

_So we went over and we said 'Hi' and 'How are you's?' even though I, at least, had only seen the pair of them about a fortnight ago._

_Donald, in his usual manner, stood there with his beak clamped shut looking like he wanted to be anywhere but there while Minnie talked about Mickey, Morty, Ferdie, the filming, seemingly everything that was going on in the world ever... _

_Which, fair enough, I was feeling the same, but I wish he hadn't been so OBVIOUS about it._

"_-So what are you two doing here then?" Minnie asked, finally drawing breath. _

_Which has got to be one of the stupidest questions ever asked when you considered where we were._

_I could have answered. Maybe I even should have answered. But, seeing as Donald had said F all at that point I clamped my beak shut and waited pointedly._

_Daisy rolled her eyes and said, good-naturedly. "It's a shopping mall, Mins. What do you THINK they're doing?"_

_Donald let out a little snort of laughter which he managed to cover up by faking a cough._

_Minnie blinked. "Oh. Well, have you found anything nice?"_

_So we ran through the gifts we'd gotten so far [excluding hers and Mickey's of course] and she nodded approvingly at each one._

"_They sound good." She said after. There was another pause while we all waited for someone else to say something._

"…_How are the boys?" Daisy asked, looking at Don._

_Well. Out of all the questions in the universe I didn't think she'd start with that one._

_Clearly Don didn't expect it either because she blinked, laughed nervously and massaged the back of his neck. "Ask Della. She's the mother."_

_Daisy turned her cool blue eyes onto me and repeated the questions. I laughed nervously and said:_

"_You know, they're cool. Little tearaways of course, but…it's fun. We're managing it."_

_I would have quite liked to end the conversation there because the atmosphere was becoming a little strained, but Daisy ever didn't notice the tension, or, more likely, ignored it. _

"_How old are they now? 12?"_

"…_Yeah." Donald said, after it was clear I didn't have the braincells to answer. "They'll be thirteen next year." Like she couldn't have worked that out for herself._

_Daisy smiled. "I can't believe that, it seems like only yesterday they were fluffy little ducklings and now…great big teenagers."_

_Donald gave a grin. "Yes…I can hardly believe it myself…" _

_Another silence, but this one was different, more comfortable, less strained. And I realised they were reminiscing about the boys youth. Cue a range of emotions inside me all battling for attention, but the one that was developing the most was…hate. Hate at myself for going off in the first place, hate at her for clearly stepping in and taking my place, hate at Donald for LETTING her –_

"_Are you alright, Della dear?" Minnie asked, looking at me in concern. _

_All eyes on me - and it might have been my imagination but I'm CERTAIN Daisy was smirking at me – and all I could do was stammer. "G-g-gimme a minute…" And legged it out of their as fast as I could._

_Of course Donald came after me. Second time in one week – we're on our way to setting a new record – anyway, he caught up with me just outside the mall, red-faced and spluttering._

"_What the hell-! "_

"_She raised them!" I shrieked._

_Donald looked at me, looked around at all the people staring at us, and, holding his hands up, said carefully. "Dells, how 'bout we talk about this in the car-"_

"_Don't give me that crap! You let her raise them!"_

"_Don't be ridicule-"_

"_I'm not being ridiculous! How ELSE would she know they were fluffy little ducklings?"_

"_Er – because ALL ducks are fluffy little Ducklings at one point!? Even WE were."_

_I opened my beak to argue further, then stopped as his words sank in. "…So she never actually raised the boys?" I said, slowly._

_My twin opened his beak, then slowly closed it again._

_So she had. I'm out the picture for two seconds and he's moving Miss Daisy Duck in to play happy families and raise the boys! Ugggghhhhh! I –_

_AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!_


	29. I'll make an exception

**Hey! I'm back, thank to Average Everyday Sane Psycho, Steampunk Wilson + KaliAnn for reviewing the last chapter and to those who have favourited and followed it so far. **

**Couple of notes about this chapter - number 1 - I've had issues with my computer. I've been trying to type this for the past two days and the computer keeps losing my work, so I've had to re-type this chapter twice. So I personally don't think this chapter is as good as it could be, but I'm sick of re-writing it so here it is.**

**Secondly - They'll be a few gaps in dates after this one for a little bit. I'm behind as it is, I need to speed things up a bit. But I need this chapter to set the foundations.**

**Anyway, my rambling aside, see chapter one for the disclaimer and let's crack on. **

_17/12/2019_

_So…turns out avoiding your brother is QUITE hard work, especially when you live in the same house. Even if that house is a mansion. I thought it would work because I'd just spend the time with my sons, but turns out - despite my being on the moon for the first 11 years of their lives- that 9 days of me hovering around them is enough to drive them insane. Even Dewey yesterday said:_

_"__Mom…"_

_"__Yes sweetheart?"_

_"…__Is there a reason you're staring at me like that?"_

_He was watching TV. I was sitting on the couch next to him. I had been looking at him – trying to visualise if the Tee-Shirt I brought him would fit him – and I thought I'd been doing it quite slyly. Not slyly enough, apparently. _

_To which I said, without really thinking. "Can't a mother stare at her son occasionally?"_

_He gave me a very weird look – like he thought I might need therapy or something – and I, realising I'd messed up, left._

_So I was pacing round the house, muttering under my breath while I did so, the next thing I hear is Scrooge asking. "Della, what are ya doin'?"_

_I shrugged. "Just…mumbling, Uncle Scrooge."_

_He nodded. "Oh, is that wha' tha' is? I thought you were tryin' ta summon somethin'."_

_Because I'm known for summoning things. Well. There was that unfortunate incident when I was 16. But to be fair thar WAS Gladstone's fault. I mean, what did he THINK bringing back a haunted talisman was going to do? NOT release a ghost? But anyway…_

_Scrooge suggested I go and see Gyro if I was looking for something to do. Now. Normally I stay fairly far away from Gyro on account of the fact that he can't stand my company for more than 30 seconds, but as I was SO BORED I decided to make an exception. _

_I knocked on the door and once again Doctor Cutie's head poked round it. "Oh, Miss Duck." He said, looking a bit frazzled. "Er…now's not really a great time-"_

_"__WHO'S THAT!?" Mr Sociable screeched from inside. _

_"__Miss Duck!" Fenton yelled back. _

_"__TELL HER TO GET LOST!"_

_Fenton took a breath and turned to face me._

_I shoved past him and marched in. "Morning Gyro!" I said, deliberately cheery. "How are we this fine morning?"_

_Doctor Sunshine slammed his coffee cup on the table and shot me a truly epic death glare. "Della." He said. "It may have escaped your limited braincells but we are actually VERY busy right now-"_

_"__-What? With the Christmas rush?"_

_"__-Yes, actually! We've got to get all this done before Christmas break because then we've got to take a…" Gyro shuddered. "…A mandatory break. For a week."_

_"__I'm looking forward to it." Doctor Cutie said, cheerfully._

_The King of Crazy gave his assistant a death glare which quickly shut him up. "Well so am I, of course. But the fact is we've got all of this to deal with and nearly no time to do it in. And a week spent with our families is a week with no work done-"_

_"__-But feeling refreshed!"_

_"__Shut up, Crackshell!"_

_"__Well, Fenton's right." I said, trying to play the part of the sane women. _

_"__Crackshell is never RIGHT-"_

_"__-Well that's not technically true Doctor Gearloose-"_

_"__Shut up Crackshell!"_

_"__But he's right!" I insisted._

_The King of Crazy glared at me. "And why's that?" He snarled._

_I raised my eyebrow. "Er…because you're acting like a butt-hole? I mean seriously Gyro, you look like death-"_

_"__-A stupid expression!"_

_"__-But you do! What's wrong with you? I mean I know you've never exactly been the picture of sanity – but this is something else."_

_"__I have mentioned this to him before." Fenton said, his tone long-suffering._

_"__SHUT UP CRACKSHELL!"_

_Crackshell threw his hands in the air. "Okey, I've had enough. You clearly need a time-out, so I'm going to take Lil Bulb into my office and do some work." And with that he picked Lil Bulb up and headed into his 'office'._

_"…__Isn't that the bathroom?"_

_Gyro gave me a flat look. "Obviously, yes. Your point?"_

_Well. That's a battle for another time. _

_"__Seriously Gyro, what the heck's the matter with you? You look AWFUL-"_

_"__And what are you – an oil painting?"_

_"__Be nice!" Fenton called from inside his 'office.'_

_Gyro glared at the door like he wanted to vaporise it and, because I'm genuinely not sure if Gyro has access to a vaporising ray or not, I decided it'd be best to divert his attention. "So what do you need to finish then?" I asked. _

_Sounds a simple question, doesn't it? Apparently it's not. Apparently it has the most complicated answer ever known to anyone. With more words and complex sentences than you could ever think. To be honest, five minutes in, I did wonder if Mr Sociable was taking the piss a little. Ten minutes in I decided I needed to interrupt him for my mental and his physical health. "But do you really need to get this done before Christmas? I mean, can't you ask the Board to move the date till after the new year or something? It can't be that desperate, can it?"_

_To which Gyro gave a hollow laugh. "Move the date? MOVE the DATE? Oh Della. Della, Della, Della...this is the Committee of Total Prats we're talking about. They'd rather dip themselves in burning oil than move the date. They're the most unhelpful, un-cooperative-!" _

_While Mr Cool-Under-Pressure ranted about the board, I remembered a couple of months back when Feathry was telling me about how his pay went down and down and down..._

_"Has your pay ever gone down?" I asked. _

_Gyro blinked. "Oh no. I don't have any problems of that kind. Not since the first time." He lifted his coffee-cup to his beak, realised it was empty and went over to the kettle to fill it up again. By the time he'd got back again my brain had started working again._

_"Wait - what do you mean 'not since the first time?'"_

_Gyro took a long sip of his drink, hummed appreciatively and said. "Well, when I first started here my pay was fine. Then after about...I don't know...six months? No, longer than that - I'd passed my probation. Eight months?"_

_"It doesn't matter!" I burst out. He looked at me, annoyed and I took a breath. "Just...did it go down?"_

_"Yes. At first I thought it was because I hadn't submitted any projects for approval. So I didn't question it to much. But then it got less and less and eventually I lost my temper and went storming round to Mr McDuck's office. Waved my paycheck in his face and demanded to know why my pay was getting less." There was another pause while I waited._

_After about ten seconds I went: "And?"_

_"Well, he was as confused as I was. He wanted proof of course. Thankfully I'd thought ahead and printed them out. After that he went straight down the Board's office to demand to know what was going on."_

_"And what was going on?"_

_Gyro shrugged. "Well. Mr McDuck said it was a misunderstanding regarding the contract, but I'm not sure. I read the contract and it's pretty clear but-" He shrugged again and sighed. "No point getting het up. It was a long time ago now."_

_Wow. I wasn't expecting that response from the King of Crazy. Seeing as he was handling this trip down memory lane quite well, I decided to go one step further and ask about Fenton._

_Gyro frowned. "I don't know. He was an unpaid intern for a long time...I assume he is. Hold on - FENTON!"_

_So Fenton comes out, and he seems a bit nervous. Whether it was because I was there or Gyro had actually called him by his name for once I don't know. But he came out and Gyro asked him if he's had a dip in pay._

_Dr Cutie shook his head. Gyro said that was sorted and was about to dismiss him when I had a brainwave. "How long have you been working here? Paid I mean."_

_"Rounding it up - 1 year and 5 months."_

_I clicked my tongue. "They'd have docked it by now if they were going to."_

_"Docked what?" Fenton asked, looking confused. _

_"Your pay." Gyro said. _

_Fenton rolled his eyes. "Oh don't. I had a temporary contract once with this company. They didn't want to pay me so they tried to withhold my pay. Funnily enough the minute I mentioned my M'Ma was a police officer they gave it to me." He shook his head. "That was a couple of years back though. Anyway - is that all?" He nodded at me, but it was clear he was addressing Gyro, who dismissed him with a sharp nod of his head before snapping at me to get out. _

_So, it looks like I might have stumbled on some kind of mystery here. The mystery of the missing pay. I think I'll wait till after Christmas to start investigating it though. Don't want to miss Christmas with my boys. _


	30. Setting the Scene

_29/12/2019_

_Today's the day people! I, Della Duck, have come up with an idea to prove without doubt that Scrooges Committee of Total Prats are screwing over his employees!_

_I won't write it down here because if there's one thing I learned from watching murder mysteries it's that you don't write down incriminating stuff – like the exact steps you're going to do to blow the water out of an operation._

_Okay, maybe I have been watching to much NCIS. But that's Webby's fault. Honestly! She sits there writing notes like. "So THAT's how you get blood out of upholstery!"_

_Now. I'm used to people saying random weird stuff – I am cousins with Feathry after all – but that caught me of guard. So I'm like: "Webby…? Why do you need to get blood out of upholstery?"_

"_I don't." She said, and I relaxed a bit. Then she added. "But I might."_

_That's weird isn't it? Considering I'm still not exactly sure what happened to Jane and Alastair_

_But I'm digressing. The point is tomorrow I will be able to prove to Scrooge and everyone that I'm not just a one-trick pony!_

_See ya tomorrow diary!_


	31. The Aftermath Part 1

**Hey! Roxy Goth here. Thank you to KaliAnn, Steampunk Wilson + DestinyDragons101 for reviewing the last chapter. I know last chapter was a bit cryptic but I didn't want to explain to much in case I ruined it. But this chapter will explain a bit more. Also I'm not really sure how to write Donald in, like, a diary form – hark why this is Della's Diary and not Donald's Diary. If anyone's got any suggestions that would be helpful.**

**Warning: Language. **

**Anyway – I hope you enjoy. See chapter one for the disclaimer. **

_01/01/2020_

_DELLA REINE DUCK I Swear when I get my hands on you I'm going to yell at you so much your ears will be ringing for a week! It's New Years day today. You know what we should be doing now? Celebrating. Like everyone else in the world. But NO! I am currently trying to find where you've disappeared to because you're too stubborn to TELL anyone ANYTHING!_

…_Now I've got that of my chest I suppose I better explain what's happened while you've been AWOL. As you know I asked you why you were behaving like an idiot two days ago when you were being secretive and all-round annoying. _

"_Wait and see." You said, grinning widely. "Wait and see." And I asked you to explain, I begged you to tell me what the HELL you were playing at and you refused. "Trust me, Donny." You said. "Just trust me."_

_And STUPIDLY I did. I should have learned, shouldn't I? After all the rigmarole you and Gladstone put me through when we were younger. _

_And then you were 'ill' weren't you? On New Years Eve. Phooey, I say Phooey! "Sorry guys, I don't feel great…" All bundled up and coughing pathetically. _

"_Do you want me to stay?" I asked. "I don't mind."_

_I should have been suspicious when you played it down. "Don't be an nimrod, Donny! I'll be fine."_

"_But-"_

"_-Fine!"_

"_Are you sure?" Huey asked. "I can take your temperature!" And he wielded a thermometer in the air. _

_Zeus knows where he got that from. _

_Anyway, so you shoved us out the door and off we went. And I suppose you just thought we'd relax all evening and have a 'awesome' time. Well NEWSFLASH DELLA! I CAN'T relax when I think my twin sister who I was torn apart from for a decade is at home being ill! So I went home and guess what?_

_YOU WEARN'T THERE!_

_I mean, don't get me wrong – I didn't expect you to be skipping round the living room or roller-skating in the garden or anything – but I did expect you to be in bed at least. And you weren't._

…_You've known me a long time now Della – all our life in fact – can you IMAGINE the look on my face when I realise you weren't there? Can you imagine my panic as I rushed round the house trying to find you? I checked ALL the rooms, I checked the garden – that took me a while – I EVEN drove out to the money bin and looked there. You weren't there. _

_Do you remember when we were about ten and we played hide and seek with Gladstone and Feathry? And you managed to find some brilliant hiding place and I couldn't find you? I can't remember exactly where you were but it was far enough away that you couldn't hear me screaming the house down. You only realised something was up when you heard Uncle Ludwig yelling for you. I was convinced at that moment in time that nothing would ever panic me like that again._

_I was wrong. Obviously. As you known I've been panicking like that ever since Gladstone came back from Scotland and you two got up to your old tricks again – BUT I'm digressing. The point IS that I was worried, Della. I thought you were dead. Again. Lost to me – again. I hope when you read this you get that through your thick skull. I mean for – fu – WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!? Whatever it was – whatever it is – I just wish you'd have TOLD ME and then we could've dealt with it again because – newsflash Della – YOU CAN'T DEAL WITH EVERYTHING BY YOURSELF!_

…_I'm going to go now. Okay? I can't – I CAN'T deal with this now. I just can't. _

_Oh – I suppose you should know. I've called the police. Or rather, I called Scrooge, he came home while Auntie Beakley stayed with the kids – we searched the house AGAIN and then HE called the police. _

_All I know is that when you drag your tail through that door I'm gonna give you the biggest hug ever. _

_Love Donald. _


	32. The Aftermath Part 2

**Hey! Roxy Goth here, first of all…YAY! We made 100 reviews! Thank you to everyone who has favourited, followed and reviewed this story so far. **

**So I just want to clarify some things, because I got a PM with a few questions in it. So…I am not following the timeline of series 3. There will be elements of series 3 but it probably won't follow the show exactly. Part of it is that when I started writing this thing Season 3 not only hadn't premiered but details about it hadn't really been released. There were theories about it, but not much actual released 'this is what's happening' stuff. So I 'went to town' on it.**

**Also I'm taking some elements of other disney shows. Goofy and Max are based of the 'A Goofy Movie' version. When I decided that I didn't realise the creators were basing him of the Goof Trap version. **

**So yes. Basically in this fanfiction the 1****st**** two series happened, the third one didn't. [I may take elements from it however] **

**Also I didn't realise until this person PMed me that the boys are still 11? On their profiles it says they're 10-12. I assumed that meant they were 12 as of 2019? Looks like I might have got that wrong. But for the purposes of this fanfic they're 12. I've changed some of the wording from previous chapters to reflect this. **

**If anyone had any questions feel free to PM me. **

_Sweet Selene, what a START to the year! If you'd had asked me last year what the start of THIS year would be like…well, to be honest I'd have probably said 'Just the same as last year' seeing as I was stuck on the moon and all. The point is I never expected to start 2020 by being kidnapped by Scrooges Committee of Total Prats. _

_I suppose I better explain what's going on. I should point out I've read Donny's entry from a couple of days ago and now I've finished crying and me and him have had a quick…talk about it. [Me: You really think I'm an idiot? Him: Yes! The biggest idiot I know! And if you EVER pull a stunt like that again I'm going to kill you! Now, give me a hug. Is basically how it went.]_

_So…I'm not exactly sure how to write this but I'm gonna give it a go. It's gonna be like when I wrote about the Ice Caves because what I need to do is write about 5 separate point of views about one event. So this'll be interesting to say the least. _

_So the last time I wrote in this thing I was going to unmask Scrooge's board of directors. My original plan WAS to drive to the money bin, rifle through their records of accounts and find evidence that way. I knew that they'd have paper copies because Scrooge is paranoid and doesn't trust/understand computers so it was just a matter of breaking in and finding my proof. Immediately there were a few problems. Number one – I realised it would really suspicious if I suddenly went 'Just driving to the money bin – don't mind me! I'll just take this plastic folder as well – see you later fam!" [The plastic folder was for the documents] Number Two – and more importantly – I needed the Board of Directors to NOT be there. So I chose New Years Eve because everyone who was sensible would be at home, celebrating. It did means I'd have to give up celebrating my first New Years with my fam, but I decided it was worth it._

_So as Donald said I went downstairs bundled up in a dressing gown and did my 'I'm ill I need to stay home' routine and after convincing Huey and Donald that no one needed to stay with me they left and I instantly got to work._

_I realised it would be pointless to take the car because – it's down the road. So I went, plastic folder under my arm, satchel round my shoulders, running through the pouring rain to the money bank because I still had the idea that this wouldn't take me very long and I might be able to make midnight._

_Well, that never happened because when I got there I typed the code in to disable the alarm, nipped into the money bin took my torch out and shone it round the place. You know places really do look weirder in the dark. I've been in that money bin basically about a thousand times now but did I recognise it when the lights were of? No. _

_Anyway, long story short I found the room, picked the lock [A neat trick that Abner showed me and Donald when we were about 7. Hhmm. Now I'm writing that I'm beginning to see why mum wasn't keen on us spending much time with him…] Anyway, then I went in and started rooting through stuff. I decided to start with the most recent records and work backwards so I did that and about six months back [in the files] I realised I'd be here forever unless I could narrow it down because the only thing I was proving was that the Committee of Total Prats had been paying Feathry, Gyro, Fenton + Quackfaster the same amount [which was very low] for the last year and a bit. Weirdly though I couldn't find a record of Launchpad's pay anywhere, so I filed that away [mentally] for another time._

_Then I had a lightbulb moment and looked at the Bored's paychecks. Jackpot! They're paying themselves nearly TRIPLE the amount the rest of Scrooges employees are getting! Which is weird because last time I checked they were brought in to CUT money not re-donate it to themselves. The next thing was to work out where this money was coming from. I had an idea but I needed Scrooge's help so I rang him and waited. After a few rings he picked up, sounding concerned. [Which makes sense cos he still thought I was ill] _

"_Della, lass? A'e you a'ight?"_

"_I'm fine, Uncle Scrooge." I said, and I thought I was doing a good job of sounding 'cool' but apparently, he told me later, I sounded really high-pitched and slightly 'screwball' was the exact word he used. "Can I just ask you a quick questions?"_

"_Ah sure, lass. Ask away." [By this point he was already looking round for Launchpad as Donald had already left the party]_

"_When did you first employ Gyro?"_

"_Gyro!? Ah…he came to me joost out of college. Graduated top o' his class with honours. Why?"_

_I rolled my eyes and was just about to ask him what year that was when someone whacked me over the back of my head with something and all went black. _


	33. The Search Party Part 1

**Hey! I'm back! Thanks to Steampunk Wilson, tontheoffbalence and KaliAnn for reviewing the last chapter.**

**Quick note about this chapter. I apologise because I know I left the last chapter on a cliff-hanger and is comparison this chapter doesn't have much proper action at all. It's basically a set-up chapter, but I need it because without it the future chapters won't make much sense. So I hope you enjoy anyway. I promise it'll pick up after this chapter.**

**See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on. **

So as I said. Something knocked me over the back of the head and all went black. That was the very bad news. The very good news – and the thing in hindsight that probably saved my tailfeathers - was that I was on the phone to Scrooge McDuck at the time who, upon hearing the sudden silence, was left in the middle of the Mouse's mansion going.

"Della? Della, lass? Della!" After a few seconds he realised that wasn't working, hung up and started yelling. "LAUNCHPAD! LAUNCHPAD!" Cue Scrooge whacking people out the way with his cane while screaming Launchpad's name.

Ten minutes later my uncle was yelling at poor Launchpad to "Drive faster, laddy!" as they sped through the streets. Then they pulled up at the house, Scrooge leapt out and ran into the house yelling. "DELLA! Della, lass!"

"Uncle Scrooge!" Donald ran downstairs, looking frenzied. "I can't find Della anywhere! She's missing!"

So Scrooge immediately sent Launchpad back to get Mrs Beakley, Webby and the boys while Donny phoned the police.

The police and Launchpad got back about the same time, which was good because the police were able to help search the grounds for me. Obviously, I wasn't there. Scrooge then demanded the police search wider. The head police officer then said they couldn't do that because I hadn't been missing 24 hours.

Cue Donald yelling that if they waited 24 hours I might "Be dead and buried you idiots!"

Cue the boys simultaneously bursting into tears. And this is one of the times that Donald's speech impediment works FOR him rather than AGAINST him because the police couldn't understand him but clearly didn't want to admit this so they just went.

"Well, that may be so, sir but rest assured we'll try our best to find your sister." So off they trotted.

Scrooge slammed the door after them. "Fat lot of help they were!" He said.

Then Donald's phone rang. "WHAT!?" He yelled into it.

"…Doooonnnnaaaaaalllllllddddddd…" It was Fethry.

Donald massaged his fore-head. "Fethry. This really isn't a good time-"

"Fethry!?" Scrooge leapt across the room, yanked the phone out of my twins hand and yelled into it.

"Where a' you!? It does not take tha' long ta travel from Mickey's to ma hoose!

So what had happened was that the limo couldn't fit the entire family in it because it's not a bus. So Fethry, Gladstone and Gus – who had all been invited to Mickey's New Year's do – drove back in Gus's car. They'd stopped on the way to pick up Abner - who'd stayed behind to look after Grandma - and were now on their way to McDuck manor. They should be about another half an hour.

"Why did you pick Abner up!?" Scrooge snapped. "The lad's about as useful as a chocolate teapot!"

"Thanks UNCLE Scrooge." Abner drawled. "Remind me to 'ave that inscribed on ma head-stone."

Scrooge spluttered and squawked a bit, embarrassed because he hadn't realised he was on speaker. Donald took the opportunity to pluck the phone out of his hand and ask. "Who's looking after grandma?"

"Don't worry." Gladstone said, airily. "A nurse just HAPPENED to be walking outside her place when we got there. She offered to stay and look after grandma. Lucky that, wasn't it?"

"She were very keen to do it." Gus said.

"'specially when I told 'er Scrooge McDuck would be payin'." Abner added.

"WHAT!?" Scrooge bellowed.

"He's joking!" Feathry said, hastily.

"Yeah, god forbid you should actually PAY for something." Abner said, knowing full well he was winding Scrooge up.

Donald hung up before Abner could say anything else.

So they phoned Gyro, Fenton and Quackfaster and told them to go and search the money bin for me and also to look at the camera's. The money bin has camera's at the entrance I should point out. For all of Scrooge's cheapness he's not cheap enough to NOT have camera's guarding the massive pile of cash. Anyway Gyro said that he and Fenton would as soon as he got there.

"Why does Doctor Gearloose need Mr Fenton to go with him?" Webby asked.

"He doesn't." Was Beakley's deadpan reply.

At that precise moment there was a knock at the door. Thinking it was me Donald ran towards it and flung it open. "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN YOU STUPID IDIOT!?" He yelled.

There was a beat and then Goofy said slowly. "Er…are you alright, Donald?"

So Donald facepalmed and brought him and Mickey up to speed.

"Gawsh, that's awful!" Goofy gasped.

"Awful." Mickey echoed.

Donald looked at him. "Haven't you got a party to be hosting?"

"This is clearly more important." Mickey said, somewhat condescendingly. Goofy gave him a surprised look and even Mickey seemed taken aback as he hurried to say. "Sorry fellas. I didn't mean it. Anyhow, I have a suggestion, Donald. Why don't you, me and Goofy drive round and look for Della? After all if she was ill she may have wondered out the manor accidently?"

This was an interesting point that no one had thought of. And a good one as well, so Mickey suggested that we split up and did a search of the places in Duckberg. So it was decided that Donald, Mickey and Goofy would drive round near where Funso's is. The Boys and Webby would stay at the manor in case I came back and also cos Donald didn't want them wandering round Duckberg at past midnight. Scrooge and Launchpad would go out in the limo and look towards the St Canard way and Beakley being Beakley would go near the harbor and look for me there.

To be fair even if I had been ill and wandered out the manor it was unlikely I would have got as far as any of those places – at least not without taking a train. But the point is the search party was on and everyone was somewhat happy cos it meant that something was finally being DONE. Not that it would ultimately do any good, because we've worked out that it was about this time that I was waking up.


	34. The Search Party - Part 2

_Before we go any further, I just want to say – I do not scare easily. I have been to space and back. I have flown more planes than the triplets have had hot dinners. I grew up being the only girl in the Duck family. I have looked death in the face on multiple occasions and yet when I woke up in a dark room with a splitting headache fear grabbed me round the neck._

"_Donald?" I squeaked. "Donald!"_

_The lights switched on and I screwed my eyes shut. After a couple of seconds my eyes had adjusted and I saw…Bradley Buzzard standing in front of me._

"_Bradley…" I said, completely confused. "W-what are you doing here?"_

_He looked at me with completely cold eyes and said, expressionlessly. "You just couldn't keep out of it, could you Miss Duck?" _

_I looked at him blankly. I can't remember exactly what he said next but it was something about being displeased about finding me going through their files and how he had to put a stop to it._

"_Why?" I asked, not thinking clearly enough to see the connection between the pay discrepancies and the board of directors._

"_Oh." He said, with a menacing smile. "You'll see soon enough." And glided off._

_By this point I was aware enough to realise that I was in a jail cell of some sort. Immediately I tried to see if I could bend the bars but - on account of the fact I'm not Gizmoduck -there was no way that was ever gonna work. And I couldn't fit through the bars either on account of the fact I'm not a twig. _

_Just as I was sticking my hand through the bars to see if I could reach the lock, a voice boomed from the heavens. "I wouldn't try that Miss Duck. Not unless you want to make things even harder for your family than they already are."_

_I froze. Family. The Boys. Donald. What did he mean?_

"_I see that got your attention." The voice was mocking me now. _

_I kicked the bars. "What have you done with my boys!?" I yelled. _

"_You'll see." The voice said lightly, and then went away again. I screamed, I raved, I cried – though that was mainly from the pain in my foot – but none of it made any difference. Eventually I sat on the bed they'd been so KIND to provide and started to think. _

_Meanwhile back at McDuck manor things were starting to heat up. As I mentioned the boys and Webby had been left behind for their own safety. And it would have worked fine had Huey, of all ducks, not come up with a 'great' suggestion. The boys would go outside and see if they could 'track me down' and get any 'clues' as to where I'd gone. I think they've been watching too much Scooby-Doo. Anyway so they went outside – Huey armed with the JWG – which he made Louie hold - and a magnifying glass._

"_Why are we doing this?" Louie asked as the four of them trotted outside. _

"_Do you want to find mom or don't you?" Huey said, abruptly. _

_So with that dealt with they started trying to 'track' me. From what I've heard Louie was already really upset and spent the whole time saying he wanted to go back inside. Huey was determined he and the JWG would be able to find me and refused to go back inside until he'd either found evidence or was satisfied there wasn't any evidence. So after about half an hour of this Louie snapped, screamed at Huey he was 'being a really stupid idiot!' and stormed back inside. Dewey immediately ran after him which left Huey and Webby outside._

"…_Are we going after them?" Webby asked._

_Huey frowned after his brothers, adjusted his cap and said, determinedly. "No. We carry on. Here. You hold the magnifying glass." And handed it to her._

_So. Huey and Webby outside. Dewey and Louie inside. When the boys got inside it was to hear sounds of – and I quote – "Sounds like Uncle Donald yelling at our old headmistress." But – knowing Uncle Donald was out – they thought it might be me and went running to the kitchen to see what was happening._

_Duckworth was in the kitchen, looking large and imposing as ever, trying to fight of about ten small ducks wearing ridiculous orange outfits. _

"_Wha' the-" Louie gasped as they skidded into the kitchen._

"_DUCK!" Dewey yelled shoving Louie out the way as one of the orange freaks hurled the kettle at them. _

_They landed on top of each other awkwardly and half of the small orange freaks rushed towards them._

_Duckworth let out a roar that was loud enough to nearly shatter the windows and lunged towards Dewey and Louie – presumably with the intention of throwing himself between them and the freaks._

_The five other ones immediately leapt on his back and arms and Duckworth gave a bellow of rage before shaking them of easily, sending them flinging into the wall where they sunk down harmlessly. _

_Unfortunately that few seconds meant the other five grabbed the boys lifted them up above their heads and ran through the manor with them. _

"_HHHHHEEEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPP!" The boys screeched. _

_Duckworth shot after them…well. Probably like that buffalo chased Mortimer back in Africa. Then the orange freaks did something admittedly clever. They split. So with one set going one way and one going another Duckworth was left with the horrible decision of choosing which one to try and save. He went after Dewey. He's been yelled at since then for going after Dewey – mainly by Huey and Dewey himself. To be honest I feel a bit sorry for Duckworth because I doubt he actually thought about his decision. He probably went after whichever one of the boys he thought would be easier to try and save – and that would be Dewey because he was being carried by two of the freaks instead of three. _

_So he managed to save Dewey by simply taking over the body of one of the freaks, dropping Dewey and then hitting the other freak. He then picked up Dewey – in the body of the freak he'd possessed – and ran with him to the nearest room with a lock, locked Dewey in said room and then re-possessed the body of the freak and ran outside to try and find Louie._

_Back outside Huey and Webby were searching the grounds – to far away to hear any of the commotion._

"_I don't think we're going to find anything." Webby said. "I think we should go back inside, wait for Uncle Scrooge-"_

"_-He's not your uncle!" Huey snapped and immediately realised he went to far. "Webby, I-"_

_Lower lip wobbling she ran off and Huey was left on his own. Apparently he would have gone after her but he heard the sound of running feet and a distant:_

"_Hhhhhheeeeeellllllpppppp!"_

"_Louie!" He ran of towards the sound. "Hold on, bud, I'm coming!"_

_So Huey skids round the corner just in time to see Louie being carried down the path by three freaks in suits. _

"_Wha' the-" He said, momentarily stopping before realising he didn't have time to momentarily stop and ran towards them with a:_

"_GET OF MY BROTHER!"_

_He then tackled one of the freaks, which caused the whole thing to collapse. So the other two ran off but Huey's lying on top of this one freak keeping him effectively pinned to the floor. Next to him Louie's gasping for air and it's at this moment that Duckworth appears next to them._

"_Ah, Master Hubert." He said. "I see you've beaten me to it. Well done."_

_He carefully lifted Huey of the freak, flung the freak into the fountain and helped Huey up. "Are you alright Master Louie?" He asked_

_Poor Louie at this point was to traumatised to do anything except gasp and curl up into a small ball. _

_Cue Huey screaming that did Louie LOOK ALRIGHT!? And as to that WHERE'S DEWEY!?_

"_Master Dewford is fine. I locked him in the bathroom." Seeing Huey's look Duckworth added. "It was the nearest room with a lock." He then looked around and asked. "Where is Mistress Webbigail?"_

_Cue Huey paling. _


	35. Search Party - Part 3

_Okay! So, where were we? Oh yes – Webby had just ran off and the boys had just been attacked by a group of freaks in orange suits. _

_I didn't know any of this had happened until Bradley Stupid Buzzard appeared back at my cell with a slimy. "And how ARE you, Miss Duck?"_

_I glared at him. "Well, you know. I've been trapped in better cells. I was once trapped in one that was made of solid gold. That was in Egypt - you couldn't have sprung for a water fountain or something?"_

_He glared back at me. "I would advise AGAINST sarcastic comments, Miss Duck. They may affect how we treat your family."_

_My heart leapt into my mouth and I clutched at the bars while growling. "I swear if you've hurt my boys…"_

_He flung his arms into the air somewhat dramatically and said, mockingly. "The boys, the boys! It's all about the boys! Does this little cherub not mean anything to you? Stealbeak!"_

_I was about to say there was no way on earth I'd ever describe Stealbeak as a 'cherub' but the words stilled when I saw Webby being frog-marched in. Her eyes were red and she kept looking around nervously while rubbing her arm. _

"_Webby!" I exclaimed. "What are you going to do with her?"_

_Buzzard didn't give me an answer but simply had Stealbeak shove poor Webby into another cell before locking her in with a flourish. Honestly - a flourish. It was like they'd been reading 'How to be a villain 101' Then they left us alone. And – look, I'm not an idiot. I know they were probably recording the conversation but I couldn't leave the poor girl completely alone, could I?_

"_What happened?" _

_There was quite a long silence – to the point I was starting to get quite worried – then a small sniffle and a: "Stealbeak grabbed me when we were looking for clues."_

_Clues? What does she – ah. Hold on. "Huey's idea?" I asked._

_Another sniffle then. "Yeah. Huey's idea. Louie got annoyed and stormed off. Dewey followed. Me and Huey looked around for a bit and then…split up. And Stealbeak grabbed me."_

_You know when you know you're not being told something? Yeah. I had that feeling. But no matter how much I probed Webby's beak remained firmly shut. It was really annoying to be honest. I don't like not KNOWING stuff!_

_So we sat in silence for ages and then out the blue Webby said. "I hope granny's okay." _

_I scoffed. "Your granny will be fine. Trust me."_

"_But she is getting kinda old…"_

_Oh, I'm so glad Beakley wasn't around to hear that! Beakley is….well. I don't know how old Beakley is but I would guess about…70? I don't know. No idea. But anyway – that's not the point. I was like:_

"_Look, Webby. No matter how old you get your granny is still able to kick tailfeathers. She'll be fine."_

_And Webby went. "I guess…" Like she thought I was lying to her or something. I let it drop. _

_SO. There's two things going on, one - back at the mansion Duckworth is trying to phone either Beakley or Scrooge to let them know he can't find Webby. And failing because neither of them where picking up there phone._

_Two – Donald, Mickey and Goofy are driving round near Funso's to see if I'm there. Their conversation is going something like this._

_Mickey: I'm…not sure we're gonna find her, fellas._

_Donald: [snapping] We'll find her!_

_Goofy: Gawsh, it sure is dark._

_Donald: Well, that might have SOMETHING to do with the fact it's now quatre past 2 in the morning!_

_Mickey: Maybe we should get out the car and look? _

_Gooofy: You mean split up?_

_Mickey: Well no, because then one of us might get kidnapped. We should stick together but get out the car so we can look better._

_There was a pause and then Goofy was like: I think it'd be better if we all split up._

_Mickey: [firmly] Well, I think it'd be better if we all stuck together-_

_Donald: - CAN WE JUST GET GOING!? Della may be dead in a ditch somewhere!_

_Goofy: I'm sure she'll be fine Donald. After all, this is Della we're talking about, right Mickey?_

_Mickey: [Rather ominously] Well, there's a first time for everything._

_A beat then._

_Donald: Aw, she's dead! [Starts sobbing]_

_Goofy: [patting his back] I'm sure she isn't._

_Donald: [Let's out a wail and buries his beak in Goofy's shirt.] I've lost her again! I'm the worst brother ever!_

_Goofy: [Still patting his back] Aw, c'mon Donald, you know that's not true! Who looked night and day for her when she left?_

_Donald: …Me._

_Goofy: Who raised her sons to be well-rounded members of society?_

_Donald: …Me._

_Goofy: And who's done his best to make her feel at home now she's back?_

_Donald: Me._

_Goofy: And who's out here now searching for her in the middle of the night? _

_Donald: [Confidently] Me! Yeah! [They high-five and turn to Mickey with hands outstretched.]_

_Goofy: Aw, c'mon Mick, you've gotta join in!_

_So Mickey gave a reluctant sigh and the three of them high-fived. _

_Donald: Woo! Let's go!_

_Mickey: [alarmed] Hold it fellas!_

_So Don and Goofy 'held it' and looked at Mickey like he'd lost his marbles. _

_Mickey: How about we search in there? [Points at Funso's.]_

_Goofy: …I don't think Della will be in there, Mick._

_Mickey: It's not so weird. It's been raining, she may have come this way and then looked for shelter?_

_Goofy: [Sceptically] And broke into Funso's Fun Zone to do it? _

_Mickey: We should at least check!_

_Donald: Don't be ridiculous! I say we check by the harbour!_

_Mickey: Mrs Beakley's doing that! I say we check Funso's!_

_[Donald opens his beak to argue, but Goofy stops him]_

_Goofy: [cheerfully] Whatever you say, Mick!_

_Mickey: Thank you! [Heads of towards Funso's]_

_I should say that by this point Donald was completely confused and looked sidewards at Goofy who tapped the side of his nose, a gesture which Donald knew meant 'trust me'. So he did. _

_And that was the thing that ultimately saved mine and Webby's life._


	36. The Search Party Part 4

_So the boys all go trooping into Funso's. And you may be wondering how they could just WANDER into a LOCKED building, but the fact is it wasn't locked because the back door was wide open. Fancy that. It's almost like the whole thing was planned..._

_Anyway, so they walked in and Goofy - always one to state the obvious - said. "Bit strange the back door's open, isn't it Mick?"_

_Mickey waved a hand dismissivly. "Don't think about it to much Goofy."_

_Goofy's eyes narrowed but he didn't say anything. Mickey waved his hands around a bit and said. "Let's split up and look-"_

_"-I thought you were the one that wanted us all to stick together?" Goofy asked, with such a level of hostility that Donald was shocked because Goofy doesn't DO hostile. Ever. _

_Even Mickey looked surprised as he stammered. "I-i know b-but now that we're, we're inside we'd cover m-more ground if we split up."_

_Goofy looked straight at Mickey and said, slowly. "Yes, because the kids are back in the manor, Scrooge and Duckworth are in St Canard and...er...um." He scratched his chin and stuck out his tongue in concentration. "...Who's doing the harbour again, Mick?"_

_Mickey sighed. "I told you, Goofy, Mrs Beakley is."_

_Goofy snapped his fingers. "Of course! MRS Beakley." He gave Donald a sidewards look who by now had - what he called - 'a feeling of dread.'_

_Mickey took a deep breath and went to turn away when Goofy called after him. "Oh, Mick! Can I just ask you a question?"_

_Another sharp intake of breath and Mickey turned slowly. "...Go. On." He hissed._

_By now Donald realised that something was clearly very wrong with the mouse, but had no idea what. Goofy just steamrolled on with: "What was the name of that college production we were in?"_

_"...What?"_

_"You know! When we were at college! You had the lead, Minnie played the lady's assistant, you fell in love?"_

_Mickey's face cleared. "Oh yes. The Three Muskateers."_

_Goofy snapped his fingers again. "That's it! And what was the one in the junior year when we did Jack and the Beanstalk and Donald tried to kill the bull for meat?"_

_"...Jack and the Beanstalk?"_

_"That was it! And - finally what was the one in the middle of those two when you played two parts? You know - the one when Horace Horsecollar was the valet?"_

_"That would be..." Mickey thought for a moment. "The Prince and the Pauper. Now, if we're done with this little trip down memory lane-"_

_Goofy laughed. "Oh yes, sorry! That's me, always getting distracted." Mickey rolled his eyes and started to walk away again. "Oh, Mickey!" Hearing Goofy's voice again the mouse stopped and turned, glaring at his friend murderously. "-Just one more question and then I'll let you carry on."_

_"What." Mickey hissed._

_"Who are you are what have you done with the real Mickey Mouse?"_

_There was a beat while both 'Mickey' and Donald looked at Goofy like he'd lost his mind. Then Mickey laughed. "You're crazy!" He said. "You're insane, you're mad! Of course I'm the real Mickey Mouse! Donald -" 'Mickey' turned to my brother. "Tell me you don't believe this shit."_

_Donald's eyes nearly buldged out his head and he took a step back._

_Goofy said, calmly. "Would you like me to tell you where you went wrong NOT-Mickey?"_

_"Please!" 'Mickey' snapped. "Yes, PLEASE tell me where you got this stupid idea from - I could do with a laugh!"_

_"Well." Goofy began, getting into 'Sherlock Goof' mode. "First of all you should never had tried to imitate Mickey Mouse without knowing how he talks. You kept calling Mrs Beakley, Mrs Beakley. If you were the real Mickey Mouse you would know that we've all been given permission to call Mrs Beakley AUNTIE Beakley. Then there were the questions-"_

_"-I answered the questions!"_

_"-Which were trick questions NOT Mickey! Jack and the Beanstalk - Donald killed a cow not a bull-"_

_"-Easy mistake to-"_

_"-NOT for someone who's friends with Clarabelle Cow it's not! Prince and The Pauper it was DONALD who was the valet not Horace. He played the advisor. And before you say those two were just mistakes anyone can make because it was a while ago - The Three Muskateers - Minnie played the princess NOT the lady-in-waiting, that was Daisy. And the REAL Mickey Mouse would know that seeing as it was THAT movie that conviced the REAL Mickey that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and FINALLY-" Goofy took a breath, then said, simply. "Mickey doesn't swear. Ever."_

_There was a long pause while 'Mickey' and Goofy silently stared at each other. Then 'Mickey' said. "I see the jig is up." Now. When Donald was telling me about this later on he asked me to guess what happened next. _

_I looked at him like- what? _

_"Just guess." Donald said, again._

_I shrugged. "I dunno. Disapeared in a puff of smoke?"_

_"No, he just collasped."_

_Yeah that's right. The mouse collasped and Donald caught him before wondering what he was DOING - as Mickey was clearly not Mickey - so he dropped him on the ground. _

_Then there was a high-pitched voice. "I suppose it was nice while it lasted."_

_Cue Donald and Goofy looking round for The Mysterious Voice._

_"I'm over here, ya morons." Snapped the voice as a figure stepped out the shadows. _

_"The Phantom Blot!?" Donald and Goofy exclaimed together. _

_"What have you done to our friend!?" Goody demanded._

_The blob waved a gloved hand. "He'll be fine. It's just the effect of the hypnosis. He'll be awake in a couple of moments."_

_Goofy and Donald looked down at Mickey - who showed no signs of doing anything except breathing anytime soon - and, after a pause, the phantom went. "Or maybe it'll be half an hour, who cares?-"_

_"-We do!" Donald squawked. _

_The Phantom put his hands on his hips and snapped. "Hey, you think this is what I wanted? I had an entire monologue planned and everything!"_

_As if on cue Mickey chose that moment to groggily sit up and put his head in his hands with a groan._

_"Mickey!" Goofy dropped to his knees and put a hand gently on his friends shoulder. "Are you okey?"_

_"Ugh...what hit me?"_

_"That would be me." The phantom blot announced proudly. Mickey frowned, looked at him, then said, in a mix of amazement and horror._

_"It CAN'T be...you're dead! You died in jail five years ago!"_

_[I had no idea of ANY of this BTW. You miss a lot when you're on the moon. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes-]_

_"I had a letter!" Mickey added, like people have never forged letters before._

_"Oh yes." The Phantom Blot said. "The Phantom Blot IS dead however-" The hood was pulled down. "-I am not!"_

_Now, it's a bit hard to describe seeing as I wasn't actually there and all, but basically the crux of this is that the person under the hood was NOT the guy we know as the Phantom Blot. It was a girl for one thing. However none of the boys had the faintest clue who she was and that made the whole thing even more awquad than it already was. _

_"...You don't recognise me do you?" The Phantom Blot said, after a few seconds of silence. _

_The boys shook their head. _

_Basically the girl was the Phantom Blot's daughter. Donald told me this and I was like: "What!? The P.B. has a daughter!? Since when?" Athough as soon as I said that I did vaguelly remember that when Mickey first had his first ding with the P.B. and the guy went to jail [for all of 6 hours before he broke back out again.]I do remember Mickey having a moral freakout because the Blot had a young daughter and he was worried about what would happen to her. He was so wound up about it he was actually RELIEVED when the P.B. broke out because then the kid wouldn't be alone for long! That's Mickey Mouse for you folks..._

_Anyway. Back to the point. P.B. Junior was not happy about the fact no one remebered her and went on a ten-minute tirade about how she was carrying on her dads legacy and her name would be up in lights eventually and how EVERYONE in the world would know and fear the name THE PHANTOM BLOT! The phantom wanna-be was half-way through this tirade with no sign of stopping when there's the sound of an engine outside that's getting closer and closer and closer..._

_She stops the tirade to go: "Can you guys hear that-" And -_

_CRASH! The entire left side of Funso's Fun Zone COLLAPSES and Gus's rust bucket [or as he calls it, his 'baby'] come barrowling through SMACKS into phantom junior and sends her flying into the ball pit. I'm still trying to figure out exatly how that happened, my best guess is she basically did a massive semi-circle through the air before landing in the ball pit._

_Donald, Mickey and Goofy are standing there open-mouthed, unable to quite believe what they just saw. Gus throws the door of the rust bucket open and yelled. "Did we hit something?"_


	37. The Search Party - Finale

_So while Donald was upstairs yelling that Yes OF COURSE they had just hit something and did they NOT NOTICE the body flying through the air!? And Goofy was helping Mickey to stand up while asking him repeatedly if he was alright, Feathry got out the car and went over to the ball pit, staring into it like he'd never even seen a ball pit before._

_"Who was that person?" He asked after a couple of moments._

_Donald stopped yelling to pause and look at him. "What?"_

_"She's the phantom blot's daughter." Mickey said, somewhat groggily I imagine. "She's taking over his legacy."_

_Donald threw his arms in the air. "Another bad guy!" He said. "Uncle Scrooge will be thrilled!" _

_A pause and then all the boys went. "Uncle Scrooge!"_

_"I'll phone him." Gus said, digging his phone out his pocket. _

_"IT'S JUST..." Feathry trailed off, still looking into the ball pit in mystery._

_A few seconds pause and then Abner said, surprisingly patiently. "It's just WHAT, Feathers?"_

_"...She's not here."_

_A beat and then: "What do you mean? She HAS to be there!" Abner snapped, coming over to look himself._

_"Well she's not. Is it possible to drown in a ball pit?" Feathry asked._

_Abner gave him a disparing look. "You don't drown in ball pits, Feathers."_

_"Actually it should be possible." Goofy said. "Just sink down so you can't get enough air..."_

_"LET'S NOT DEWLL ON THAT!" Donald said, firmly, a hint of the navy-officer coming back through. "Now. Someone needs to go into the ball pit and look for her."_

_"Hey, look $20!" Gladstone exclaimed, swooping to pick it up as ALL eyes swivelled to him. He kissed it and put it in his [buldging] wallet, then looked at everyone, realised the implication and immediatly said. "Oh no. NO WAY-"_

_"C'mon Gladstone!" Donald argued._

_"There is no way you're getting me down there, Donaldo!"_

_"Listen to me, Gander" Butted in Abner, who has never had time for any of Gladstone's 'it's all about me' attitude. "You are the only person here who has the slightest chance in hell of getting any kind of result on account of the fact that you're a freak of nature." Gladstone bristled but Abner just steamrolled on. "So either you get into that ballpit willingly and look for the girl or I throw you in it - beakfirst. So which one will it be...COUSIN?"_

_So Gladstone got into the ballpit 'willingly' after carefully removing his jacket and placing it on the backseat of Gus's rustbucket. _

_So...me and Webby didn't know any of this and the first we heard of the entire scenario was when we heard footsteps heading towards mine and Webby's cells. We both stood up and looked at each other in silent understanding. I would do the talking and she would try to escape. Apparently Mrs Beakley's been training her for this EXACT moment. _

_There are times I worry about Beakley..._

_Anyway. There was a massive shadow on the wall and my first thought was it was one of the Buzzards coming for us, then I realised it couldn't be because the shadow didn't have a massive beak. Sure enough it was a dog. _

_She had black hair scraped back into a pony-tail and a look on her face that said 'if you mess with me I will rip you apart with my bare hands.' Now. If there's one thing I've learned over my years of being one of the greatest adventuras in the world, it's that if someone is walking towards you with that look, you STAY SILENT. _

_So I clamped my beak shut as she marched towards my cell, looked me dead in the eyes before casually getting out a key and starting to unlock it. _

_"...Er, what are you doing?" I asked._

_She rolled her eyes. "I'm freeing you. Obviously."_

_I waited for her to carry on and then when she didn't, said. "Oh, okey. Why? And - who are you?"_

_The cage door swung open and she darted over to Webby's cage, who was standing there with sparkling eyes. "Eek!" She squeeled. "A jailbreak! I've dreamed about this moment!"_

_There are times I worry about Webby, but that's not really the point, Della, stay focused! Anyway..._

_"Who. Are. You?" I asked, again, with my best 'don't mess with me' voice._

_"I'm with FOWL." She said._

_I frowned. "...What's FOWL?"_

_She smiled, smugly. "Now why would I tell you that?" She said, in what I can only descrobe as a singy-songy voice. The door to Webby's cell swung open and she leapt out with a 'hi-yah!' and knocked the girl to the floor before grabbing her by her cloak and yelling. _

_"Tell me what FOWL is you ruffian!"_

_You know, after being on so many adventures with Webby I REALLY should have seen that coming. Also, i thought I had seen it all, all these adventures I've been on. But no, the girl looked Webby dead in the eyes and said, in a low voice._

_"Look deep into my eyes."_

_Webby had her fist clenched, ready to make a blow but froze._

_"You will let me go." _

_Then, Webby GOT OFF HER and stood to one side! Before I could even blink the girl had got up and was legging it out the room._

_I shook Webby and yelled at her to snap out of it, but was well aware that I should probably get after the girl. Even if i didn't know who she was my gut was telling me to get after her. But then I realised that she clarly knew the layout out this place better than I did and so was probably long gone and my best bet was to snap Webby out of whatever trance she was in before her grandma killed me._

_Just then I heard: "Dells-Bells, are you down here!?"_

_Gladstone. Bloody Gladstone Gander. I don't mind admitting I thought I was hearing things, so I didn't even respond, but then his voice got louder and louder and eventually I heard._

_"There you are - why didn't you SAY anything!?"_

_"She's in a trance!" I said, somewhat hysterically. "I can't snap her out of it!"_

_"Here, let me try." Gladstone said, pushing me aside gently. _

_He put his hand on Webby's shoulder and she blinked a few times, wobbled dangeously before steadying herself and looking around furiously. "Where's the villain!?"_

_As much as I was desperate to scream at Gladstone 'HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?' I couldn't because I was already racing after the girl, though I knew there was a high chance she was already gone. _

_I didn't find her but I did find the Buzzards knocked unconcious in a little office. I have a pretty good suspicion who did THAT to them. After a bit of debate we decided to just leave them_

_Gladstone found the way out. He stumbled across it. Literally. He fell over, hit a button on the desk, which opened the wall, which revealed a tunnel which gave us the way out. So the three of us held hands and edged throught the tunnel because it was dark and only Gladstone had his phone on him. _

_"Don't worry, girls, I'll have us out soon." He kept saying while I glared daggers at the back of his head while also looking around to make sure that girl wasn't going to pop up and murder us or anything._

_When we finally made it out we were back in Funso's. We came through the wall, that was quite fun. We were in the main office though so we had to find our way through to the actual play area where Donald was just in the middle of threatening to murder the next person who suggested he calm down, so good timing. _

_"Geez, you're always so dramatic, Donny." I said, casually._

_He whipped round, fire in his eyes. "I'M DRAMATIC! YOU'RE DRAM - Della! Webby! Oh-!" Cue the ebourmous bear-hug while Gladstone stood awquadly off to the side. But that didn't last long cause soon EVERYONE was hugging us._

_It was really nice. _


	38. Together Again

_The journey back was uneventfull. After a bit of debating Gus and Abner took Mickey to the hospital in the rust-bucket, Goofy going with him. Donald wanted to go as well, but Goofy insisted he could handle it and pointed out that Donald might want to get back for the boys._

_Another spark of anger took hold of me and I was about to snap that Donald didn't NEED to look after the boys as, you know, I'M BACK and eveything but Goofy looked at me and added, smoothly. "And Uncle Scrooge as well, of course. Just go and check on your family, Don, I've got this." And then gave a cheery wave before disapearing into the back of the rustbucket with Mickey._

_Gus gave us a little wave and a small 'Honk!' then, with expert navigation, drove the rustbucket out the same hole it had created about 45 minutes ago._

_So we took Mickey's car back to the manor - which, as Donald pointed out multiples times, is technically illegal - but as Gladstone pointed out. "Donald, we're not going to be stopped with me driving are we? Not shut up and get in because I'm tired."_

_"YOU'RE TIRED!?"_

_"Would the pair of you shut up and get in the freakin' car, I want to see my boys!" I screamed at them._

_So, not gonna lie, the journey back was quite tense. Especially when Gladstone - And I can only assume he did this to prove a point - SPED past a police station and, get this: not one of the squad followed us._

_"If that was me I'd have the ENTIRE fleet after me." Donald muttered under his breath to me._

_"Shut up." I hissed back. "We both know you wouldn't be speeding in the first place."_

_Anyway, we made it back in one piece only to be greeted at the door by Mrs Beakley who looked...exhausted and had a lovely claw mark on the side of her face that seemed to go...quite deep._

_"Granny!" Webby ran forward and hugged her tightly. "What happened?"_

_"Oh, just a little fight with an old enemy of mine." Mrs B said, airily, like that narrows it down. Then she looked at me and Donald and added. "I'm sorry to have to tell you, but Louie's been taken to hospital."_

_"What!? Why!?" Me and Donald said, at the same time._

_So it was then that Mrs B explained how they'd all been attacked, which is where I learned what had happend to them. Apart from Mrs B, no idea what happened to her. Webby tried to get her to tell us but she kept saying no, and then the minute Webby yawned took the opportunity to whisk her and the boys of to bed saying they'd had a 'tireing day'. Which to be fair they had._

_It was then that I told them about the girl and how she rescued us and how I didn't know who she was. Donald cleared his throat and was like: "About that Della..." And filled us on on PBJ's little rant about how she was fuffilling her dads legacy, blah, blah, blah..._

_"Wha' ah doon't geet." Scrooge said, suprisingly calmly. "Is wha' was the point of all this? Ah mean, I understand that they kidnapped Della because she found out the buzzards were payin' more to themselves than to the rest of the emplyees - which ah am plannin' to fix by the way." He added, as a bit of an afterthought. "Ah'll back-pay em all by however long their pay was cut. How long was that?"_

_"A year and a half?"_

_Scrooge closed his eyes and seemed to be having some sort of stroke as he mentally calculated the amount that came to. After a few seconds his death grip on the table lessened and he said, through gritted teeth. "Thas fine. Leave it wi' me."_

_"Oh, by the way." I said, suddenly getting a thought. Rare, I know, but anyway. "When I was looking through your filing cabinet I noticed Launchpad doesn't seem to be being paid...?"_

_"Ah AM payin' him!" Scrooge snapped, slamming his cane on the table with enough force to make us all jump. "Ah pay him personally out of mah oon pocket!"_

_I held my hands up defensivly. "Alright, I was just asking!"_

_"Hold on!" Feathry said, rummaging in his backpack. "Hold on!"_

_We waited for a few seconds, then Gladstone asked. "Feathry, what the hell are you doing?"_

_"I just need to add that sentence to the book of things I NEVER thought I'd hear Uncle Scrooge say!"_

_Writing it down it wasn't really that funny. But it was enough at the time to dissolve the tension and make us all laugh._

_"I wouldn't have thought their was much to laugh about." Auntie Beakley's said, in her 'I-think-you-are-all-complete-idiots' way. "Considering poor Louie's in hospital and the rest of the children are traumatised."_

_"Ah think traumatised is a bit stroong ah word, Beakley." Scrooge said, waving his cane at her. "It's charector building!"_

_Beakley narrowed her eyes and looked at the glass of wine Scrooge was currently grasping in his other hand. "I think the lot of you had better get to bed." She said, steadily. "Gladstone and Feathry I think you had better spend the night as well."_

_I have to say, Scrooge did not look at all thrilled to have two more of his nephews in his manner, but took one look at Beakleys face and [sensibly] decided it was a good idea not to argue with her._

_So after a quick phone call to Goofy to check Mickey was alright - he was - we headed to bed._

_When I got to my room though I was surprised by Dewey who was sitting on my bed waiting for me._

_"Are you alright, sweetie?" I asked._

_Dewey wrung his hands nervously and asked, in a strange high-pitched voice. "Do you think Louie will be alright, mom?"_

_"Of course!" I said, immediatly. "It's Louie. And it's only a broken arm. It'll fix itself in about 6 weeks."_

_"I know but..." Dewey wrung his hands again and looked out the window. "Do you think he's alright? At the hosptital? He's not...scared or anything?"_

_I considered. "Maybe he is." I said, carefully, sitting next to my son. "Do you get...vibes he's scared?"_

_"...A little."_

_I understood. I used to get that occasionally, normally when Donald was very stressed or very scared. Occasionally it's just a feeling that something isn't RIGHT, which is what i suspected was happening now. Because one would hope your son isn't stressed or scared at an hospital where he's meant to be being taken care off._

_After talking it over a little more Dewey eventually phoned Louie - officially to tell him what happend with us - and discovered that Louie was fine, just a little nervous._

_"It's weird." He was saying. "There's a kid here that snores a lot. Like, a lot. It's driving me CRAZY, I can't get to sleep. And my arm is killing me."_

_"Well." Dewey said. "Unfortunaly , bro, I can't help you with the arm. But as for the sleeping, Moms here. Do you want her to sing that song to you?"_

_I tell you what, my heart just about stopped. I didn't even realise Dewey remembered that, but apprently he did._

_Louie thought for a moment - probably wondering how much his mother singing to him would ruin his 'street cred' but then decided it was alright. So I sang the moon lullbay to him and , althought it didn't send him to sleep, it calmed him down enough for him to try and get to sleep._

_So, after hanging up on Louie, I hugged Dewey, told him I loved him and then shoved him of to bed. Just as a loving mother should._

_I hope it's what a loving mother would do anyway._

_Eh, I'll check with Donald tomorow. Now, I'm exhausted. Night diary!_


	39. Putting the Fun in Fundraiser

**_Hey! I'm back. Thank you to Steampunk Wilson and KaliAnn for reviewing the last chapter, as well as tonofthebalence and Mighty Agamemnon for reviewing as well._**

**_See chapter one for disclaimer and let's carry on. If anyone has any ideas for scenes they'd like to see, feel free to either leave it in a review of PM me._**

_11/01/2020_

_Well, today was intresting. It all started last week when Huey brought back a note from his JWG leader saying that this week [I.E. today] Huey's troop would be running a lemanade stand in the park. The idea would be the children would work within a small team to raise money for charity and the team who won the highest amount of money would recieve a certificate, a badge [the 'Charitable Deeds' badge] and have their photo put in the local paper. As you can imagine Huey was determined to win it._

_"I can frame it!" He said, multiple times. "Put it above my bed! AND I can add the photo to my scrapbook!"_

_Scrooge beamed. "Tha's the spirit, lad!" He said, happily. "We'll make an entrapenour out of you yet!"_

_Donald scowled at him from the other end of the table. "It's a CHARITY event, Uncle Scrooge." He pointed out. "They don't get to keep the money."_

_"Ah knoow that!" Scrooge snapped. "It's leadership skills, I'm talkin' about laddy!" Because part of this thing was that Huey would be in charge of a small team of 3 kids which he was very excited about, mainly because he'd requested to be with Boyd and Violet and was looking forward to it. _

_"Just enjoy it, Huey dear." Autie Beakley said, in that maternal way of hers. _

_"And we'll be there to cheer you on." I said. _

_Literally everybody, except Donald, turned to look at me in horror. _

_"What, all of us?" Dewey said, faintly. _

_"Yes, all of us."_

_"Not me though." Louie said, looking desperate. "I'm still recovering!"_

_I glared at him. "Louie." I said, firmly. "You have a broken arm, not a broken leg. There's no reason you can't watch your brother in his event. I'm sure if it were the other way round Huey would support you."_

_"I sure would!" Huey said, giving Louie a brotherly pat on his good arm. "I'd be there with a camera ready to put it in the scrapbook."_

_There was a beat and the Louie said. "Yeah, you see, this is why I'm never going to invite you to anything."_

_"You'd have to actually DO something first before you can not invite him to it." Dewey said, snarkily. _

_Louie glared at him. "Shut up Dewford!" And so the argument carried on till Donald yelled at them to shut up. _

_Anyway. That was that. Then a few days after THAT conversation Huey came back from his JWG meeting practically simmering with anger. _

_"I can't believe it!" He yelled, slamming the door behind him._

_Myself and Donald both jumped and I fumbled to switch of the TV at the same time Donald said. "What's wrong, Huey?"_

_"They put me with Morty and Millie!" Huey said, in disgust._

_I perked up at the mention of the name. "Mickey and Minnie's nieces and newphews?"_

_"Yes." Huey said, flinging himself in the middle of us, arms still folded and pouting like you wouldn't believe. "And I'M in charge of them! The pair of them are new, they have NO idea what they're DOING! Huey sunk back dramatically into the chair. "It's over! I'm never going to get that certificate!"_

_"Maybe not." Donald said, thoughfully, as I pulled my son in for a hug. "But it'll be good experience, won't it? For when you lead your own troop?"_

_Huey considered, then nodded and snuggled into me a bit more. Ah...I can't believe I missed a decade of this..._

_Anyway, ignoring THOSE thoughts - cos we don't want to go down THAT path - when we finally made it to the park a week later it was to see that they had pulled out all the stops and had two lemanade stands at opposite ends of the park. We'd walked past one on the way in but the other was smack-bang in the middle of the playground. _

_"Hi-yah, Huey!" A cheery voice said and I looked to see a tall beaver in a scoutmasters uniform waving enthusiatically at us. _

_"Hi Scoutmaster Beaver!" Huey said, waving back._

_The scoutmaster gave a wide grin and said. "Just join the others and I'll tell you what groups you're in."_

_So off Huey went and it took about...thirty seconds? For Dewey and Louie to complain [very loudly] that they were SO BORED and could they go and play?_

_"Sure." I said. "Yell if anything goes wrong." _

_Severel of the parents gave me weird looks and Donald took the opportunity to hiss into my ear. "Just a TIP...DUMBELLA...It's not generally seen as OKEY for you to tell your kids to just 'yell if something goes wrong'."_

_"Oh." I said and considered yelling after them to forget it but realised this might make me seem even more mental so decided to just forget it. _

_So after a small debate between Donald and myself it was decided he would watch Huey while I made sure Dewey and Louie didn't injure themselves while playing because APPARENTLY that's a thing now. _

_Anyway, I found Louie sitting glumly on a bench looking at some stupid video on his phone. "What are you doing?" I asked, sitting next to him._

_He shrugged. "Watchin' stuff."_

_"You know." I said, meaningfully. "You could play on stuff instead of watching that trash."_

_Geez, I sound just like my mother..._

_Louie gave me a flat look and said. "What? With a broken arm?"_

_Okey, fair point. A fair point that I countered with: "You could watch Huey?"_

_"Oh yeah." Louie said, sulkily. "Watch Hubert sell tiny cups of lemanade for 25 cents a cup. Sounds awsome."_

_I gave up and asked. "Where's Dewey?"_

_"Up there." Louie said, pointing._

_I looked up and saw Dewey climbing a big spider-web thing and getting very, very high._

_"Is he alright?" I found myself asking, worridly, despite the fact that not even half an hour before I'd been happily waving them off._

_Louie looked up, then immediatly went back to his phone with a dismissive. "He'll be fine. He's racing Ferdie."_

_I saw Dewey nearing the top and said, dryly. "He's winning."_

_"Yeah, well, Ferdie's only ten." My youngest said, still looking at that flippin' PHONE._

_I nodded and then it clicked. If Morty and Ferdie where here that means that Mickey and Minnie may be to. So I went on the hunt for them. _

_Well, Mickey wasn't there, but Minnie was talking animatedly into her phone. I only heard a little bit of the conversation, but the bit I heard went like this:_

_"-Daisy, you're just going to have to do it without me!" There was a silence then Minnie said, exasperatedly. "Well mix it together and tell her it's a new shade! Look I don't have TIME for this now, I'm supposed to be supervising the kids, okey? Goodbye!" And she ended the call with such force, I was surprised her finger didn't go through the screen._

_"Trouble with Daisy?" I asked._

_She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I love her to bit but sometimes-" Then she realised who she was speaking to and squealed. "Della!" Before throwing her arms around me. Which I thought was a bit over the top, to be honest. [Or OTT as the kids say now.]_

_"It's been AGES since I've seen you!" She exclaimed. I would have debated that point, had she not steamrolled on with: "Sorry about that call, but it's, like, I leave the boutique in the care of Daisy for, like, 2 hours and she's ALREADY messed it up! I've had to ring Clarabelle and Horace and ask THEM to go in and even now they've arrived she's, like, STILL calling me, and I just think I'm going to HAVE to switch my phone off -"_

_"Where's Mickey?" I asked, more than slightly abruptly. _

_She blinked at me, then said, like I was stupid for even asking. "At home, Dells. Recovering. he still feels very weak."_

_"Has he had any visitors?"_

_"Pete and the kids came over for a little bit a few days MORTIMER turned up today..." Minnie took a deep breath. "Thankfully it was the exact time I that I needed to take the kids here. So I didn't have to pretend to be polite for to long. But..." She gave a dainty shrug._

_Ah yes. The infamous Mortimer/Minnie/Mickey debacle continues. I don't get why either Mickey or Minnie don't kick him out considering he's such a massive pain in the ass, but there's a reason the two of them have a reputation for being the nicest people around. If it was me I'd have just punched him in the snout._

_So me and Minnie had quite a nice afternoon talking and generally whittling away the hours. [Does that count as a JWG joke? I'm gonna count it as a JWG joke.] I feel a bit guilty actually, Minnie's not actually as annoying as I remember her being. Then again, she's not got Daisy with her, so maybe that has something to do with it? Who knows, anyway, it was nice, is my point. _

_We were having such a good discussion I pretty much managed to tune out the world until I heard an angry. "HUBERT DUCK!"_

_Me and Minnie both snapped our heads round to see a small, round child in a JWG outfit storming towards Huey's stand, where I could NOW see five children, not three, were standing behind it, all looking somewhat alarmed._

_Huey himself looked like he was debating between running for his life and doing a Donald and just yelling. _

_The fat child slammed his fist on Huey's stall and bellowed in his face. "YOU STOLE MY WORKERS!"_

_"Team-mates." Boyd corrected, in a suprisingly dry tone. "I believe the correct term is Team-mates."_

_"Whatever!" The child screeched. "You stole 'em!"_

_While the scoutmaster hurried over, Huey steadied himself and said calmly. "I didn't STEAL them, Doofus, they came to me because they didn't like the way you were treating them."_

_"Is there a problem?" The scoutmaster said, which I thought was a pretty stupid question because, HELLO? Of COURSE there was a problem!_

_"Huey stole my workers!" Doofus snapped. _

_"DOOFUS drove his workers away and is now demonstrating threatening behaviour!" Huey fired back. "Which is against Rule number 4 of the J.W.G which is, and I quote, 'Junior Woodchucks's should treat each other in a positive manner' and it's also against Rule number 5 which is, and I quote, 'Junior Woodchuck's should not demonstrate threatening behaviour towards each other'."_

_Doofus spluttered a bit and then snapped. "What about the rule that says you can't steal workers-"_

_"There isn't one." Scoutmaster Beaver said, his authorive voice shutting Doofus up immediatly. "However Hubert is quite right in what he says and because of that, Doofus Drake, I will have to ask your mother to remove you from the group."_

_Boyd smiled, which caught the attention of Doofus [rather an appropriate name I think]. "Don't know what you're smiling at." He snarled. "He just said Mother will remove us BOTH-"_

_"Actually, Doofus, I didn't say that." the scoutmaster said, with an admirable level of calmness. "I just said YOU will be removed. Now, come with me-" And the pair of them walked over to what I assume was Doofus's mother._

_I saw Huey visably exhale, and he put his head in his hands and kinda sank onto the table a bit. The rest of his team [which was made up of, Morty, Millie, Boyd and Violet] patted him on the back and congratulated him. _

_Dewey bounded up to him and stole Huey's hat of his head, which at least made Huey look up and snatch it back with a: "That is part of my offical scout uniform, Dewford!"_

_"That was awsome." Louie said. "I filmed the whole thing, look." And waved his phone in Huey's face. _

_"You can't film at these things!" Huey said, exasperatly, before lowering his voice and adding. "Can you send it me?"_

_A beat and then. "Done." From Louie._

_"Well done, Huey." Donald said. "You dealt with that very well."_

_"Very well." I echoed, feeling very proud. _

_The scoutmaster [who I discovered was called Casper. He seems very nice. He has quite a few muscles.] came back and announced that he felt that, in the light of events, they'd better end the fundrasier there. The kids were quite disappointed but, considering by that point it looked like it was about to rain, the parents all went: 'Yeah, that seems a good idea. Shame about the incident, see you next meeting.' and took their children away._

_I was 'on a high' as Gladstone would say, and asked if Minnie and the kids wanted to come back to ours for a bit, but by that point she'd had a message from Mickey telling her that Mortimer had finally effed of [2 and a half hours!] so she decided she'd take the kids back._

_All in all it was a pretty good day. Anyway, I have to go, it's nearly midnight and I'm quite tired._

_See you next time, diary!_


End file.
